Reply #83: isn't a real problem that we need a reform of the medical system [View All]

[imenja]

I feel for your situation, I truly do. I think the difficult situation doctors face as a result of insurance payments impacts us as patients and helps to explain why so many double book appointments. If you look at California and states that have imposed tort restrictions, they have not positively influenced malpractice premiums or medical costs.
I had a heated disagreement with an attorney on DU a few weeks ago because I insisted some tort reform was necessary, despite the fact I was one of a minority of Floridians who voted against a recent constitutional amendment placing limitations on fees paid in medical malpractice suits. There has to be a full scale reform that puts the common good--not insurance companies or lawyers--at the center of it's concern. Unfortunately, both parties take so much money from these two interest groups, it contaminates the process.
I've never hired a lawyer, but I did have a false personal injury claim filed against my auto insurance policy and my rates suffered. I have been to many good doctors in my life. My recently deceased grandfather was a great physician, chief of neurology at the Mayo Clinic as well as a pioneer in treatment of M.S. and the first to develop a program in rehabilitative therapy for veterans (immediately following WWII). Despite this, I have had some very bad experiences with doctors, violations that were literally criminal in nature, and can't tell you how much I dread going to the doctor. I wish the medical boards would do more to patrol their own profession. I also wish that this administration would consider the medical and insurance systems as a whole, along with tort reform, and consider the best solution for all of us. Of course, they won't do that. Sadly, this administration never does. I wish I had confidence that the pending reform would improve things. I fear it won't.