An Investor's Business Daily article applauds California's 33-year-old healthcare reforms and urges other states to take a cue to reduce the cost of their medical malpractice premiums, attract new doctors, and increase the quality of healthcare.
David Ridenour, vice president of the National Center for Public Policy Research, writes that some greed-filled lawsuits "play a major role in our nation's ever-escalating health care costs."
"Lawsuits that unnecessarily increase the liability risk of healthcare providers only tend to increase costs and add to the current crisis," he writes, citing as an example the case of a physician who sued the Charleston (W.V.) Area Medical Center after it refused to recognize his medical malpractice self-insurance plan. The physician was awarded $25 million from local jurors.
"With America's healthcare increases far outpacing the cost-of-living index, West Virginia and other 'judicial hellhole' states should wake up and take a cue from California and Texas," Ridenour concludes.