Healthcare in America: The Fix, pt. 4

Good day, family and friends!

As I mentioned last May, "identifying a problem without offering solutions is just bellyaching." So, with that in mind, let me begin to lay out my suggestions for addressing the issues facing the best healthcare system in the history of mankind...

The first place we have to start is with Tort Reform. As previously noted, out of control litigation in this country accounts for between 19% and 27% (depending on which study you choose to believe) of healthcare costs every year. Getting the ambulance-chasing shyster weasels and the morally-deficit shiftless scammers under control will knock off a fifth of the cost of providing healthcare and healthcare coverage to physicians, clinics, hospitals, and insurance companies.

The first step to this end is to restore Personal Responsibility to the basic tenets of our legal system:

Allow judges and juries to consider "reasonable expectations" when deliberating on the merits and evidence of a case. (id est: if one orders hot coffee and it arrives steaming, there is a reasonable expectation that spilling it on one's self may result in one's flesh being scalded);

If an attorney or law firm accepts a case that is tenuous at best, and brings it before the courts, and that case is deemed by the presiding judge to be without merit and is dismissed, and that there was no intent to defraud on the part of the plaintiff, then the attorney or law firm (and not the plaintiff) will be required to reimburse the defendants all legal expenses, including lost wages and travel expenses, that they incurred;

If an attorney or law firm knowingly accepts a case that is bogus or outright fraudulent and brings it before the courts, then the attorney or law firm will be subject to the same criminal penalties as the plaitiffs, and, along with the plaintiff, will be required to reimburse the defendants all legal expenses, including lost wages and travel expenses, that they incurred;

I believe that human life is sacred and priceless and that a dollar amount cannot be attached to it. I also believe that the tragic loss of a family member should never be viewed as a bonanza by their survivors. Having stated this, however, I do believe that families should be reimbursed for the loss of a loved one due to negligence or criminal activity. To this end I believe that an equitable way to determine this reimbursement should be as follows:

If the victim is under 68 years of age (10 years shy of the average life span of a citizen of the United States): The age of the victim subtracted from 68 times the average annual total compensation (including value of benefits) someone of the same age/career/educational level in the same federal congressional district can expect to make before retirement times 133% plus any rescue/medical expenses incurred by the family as a result of the event that led to their loved one's death plus legal costs.

Or, as a formula: [(68-A)x1.33W]+MEDX+LEGX = Compensation

(for example: A 42 year old man with a Bachelor's degree who has been working as a Customer Service manager in the computer industry in federal Congressional District Texas-31 dies through the negligence or outright incompetence of a surgeon. To determine the compensation his family should receive, the formula would be: [(68-42)x($46,280x1.33)]+MEDX+LEGX or $1,600,362.40 plus any medical/rescue and legal expenses the family incurred from this tragedy.)

If the victim is 68 years of age or older (10 years shy of the average life span of a citizen of the United States): The average annual total compensation/retirement income for someone of the same age/career/educational level in the same federal congressional district times 3 plus any rescue/medical expenses incurred by the family as a result of the event that led to their loved one's death plus legal costs.

Or, as a formula: 3W+MEDX+LEGX = Compensation

(for example: A 72 year old retired Mechanical Engineer who, thanks to diligently saving money and contributing to a retirement fund, has an annual retirement income of $75,000, dies through the negligence or outright incompetence of a surgeon. To determine the compensation his family should receive, the formula would be: 3x$75,000+MEDX+LEGX or $225,000 plus any medical/rescue and legal expenses the family incurred from this tragedy.)

It may seem as if these formulas place a greater value on the younger person than on the older. Quite the contrary; these formulas are designed to be completely neutral and not attempt to establish any sort of relative value on the lives of these two individuals. Instead, the formulas are merely designed to compensate the survivors for potential loss of family income due to the negligence or incompetence of the surgeons in question. The survivors of the younger victim would have lost 20 - 25 years of his contributions to the family income while the survivors of the older victim would still have the retirement savings he (or she) had established and worked to create, so they would not be facing a financial crisis as a result of the tragedy.

Next time, keeping bureaucrats out of medical decisions.

Until then, best regards...



© James P. Rice 2011