malpractice insurance
RE: rising cost of healthcare
Alright, but we return to my points about malpractice: We can rule out a non-existent "rise" in malpractice claims, successful suits, or in damages awarded, because they simply are not happening.
So, why then are doctor's malpractice insurance premiums going up? I think, quite simply, because they can.
It has been speculated that a lot of insurance companies were leveraged a bit too heavily towards the high-tech side of the stock market prior to the crash in 2000, and afterwards have been trying to make up for their big losses in ways lucrative to them where markets are inflexible: medicine is a natural target, and since doctor's have to carry malpractice insurance, it's a sure deal.
I think the fact that insurance companies have done really well in the past few years, after their stunning blow from 9/11 tells you a lot about their behavior: they have latched onto whatever will keep their stock price up, which means high profits, which means markets where the consumer (here, doctors) has little choice in the matter. Since big insurance is essentially an oligopoly and not market-competitive, that works out badly for patients, doctors, and everyone but stockholders of insurance companies.
Just a theory, but I think it is plausible. And it leads naturally to what I think are the foibles of a private healthcare system: market failures on multiple levels, monopolistic price control, and uncompetitive markets.
Alright, but we return to my points about malpractice: We can rule out a non-existent "rise" in malpractice claims, successful suits, or in damages awarded, because they simply are not happening.
So, why then are doctor's malpractice insurance premiums going up? I think, quite simply, because they can.
It has been speculated that a lot of insurance companies were leveraged a bit too heavily towards the high-tech side of the stock market prior to the crash in 2000, and afterwards have been trying to make up for their big losses in ways lucrative to them where markets are inflexible: medicine is a natural target, and since doctor's have to carry malpractice insurance, it's a sure deal.
I think the fact that insurance companies have done really well in the past few years, after their stunning blow from 9/11 tells you a lot about their behavior: they have latched onto whatever will keep their stock price up, which means high profits, which means markets where the consumer (here, doctors) has little choice in the matter. Since big insurance is essentially an oligopoly and not market-competitive, that works out badly for patients, doctors, and everyone but stockholders of insurance companies.
Just a theory, but I think it is plausible. And it leads naturally to what I think are the foibles of a private healthcare system: market failures on multiple levels, monopolistic price control, and uncompetitive markets.
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