Comments on: To Hell with the Devil! Let the Angels In http://thehealthcaremaze.us/2009/08/08/to-hell-with-the-devil-let-the-angels-in/ A plea for a more rational system Sat, 14 Apr 2012 14:45:25 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.4 By: Anna Gardiner http://thehealthcaremaze.us/2009/08/08/to-hell-with-the-devil-let-the-angels-in/#comment-82 Anna Gardiner Sun, 09 Aug 2009 21:04:52 +0000 http://thehealthcaremaze.us/?p=974#comment-82 We need to decouple employment from medical insurance! The current system bodes the question of whether the employer has any liability if the plan or medical insurer offered doesn't oversee the behavior of its providers who are negligent. I believe medical insurers have vicarious liability for overseeing their providers and direct supervisory responsibility to follow up on provider complaints to the insurer if the insurer advertises such oversight in its literature to attract members and increase market share. The provider is in essence a contract employee. Health care laws are vague on all these points. Any true reform would look into revamping such liability in its laws -- not just focusing on whether to limit medical malpractice awards. Medical malpractice amounts to only 1% of the cost of medical care in the U.S. and it wouldn't even be that much if doctors stopped making avoidable errors. In fact, only a small number of suits are actually brought against negligent providers because often, the injured can't afford the attorney fees and court costs to file suit. That is my predicament. I became disabled while insured by Cigna Healthcare because specialists just kept referring me for more and more tests and to other specialists. They couldn't decide who was responsible for the diagnosis and treatment. Until we revamp how health care is delivered, such wasteful spending will continue to mount. All my tests and doctor visits over two years cost nearly $50,000 and I was never diagnosed or treated. Now your tax dollars are paying for my Medicare and Disability award. This entire incident could have been avoided with a proper medical care system in place. The really sad part is I found this is a common occurrence that Americans don't want to face because it is too depressing. We need to decouple employment from medical insurance! The current system bodes the question of whether the employer has any liability if the plan or medical insurer offered doesn’t oversee the behavior of its providers who are negligent.

I believe medical insurers have vicarious liability for overseeing their providers and direct supervisory responsibility to follow up on provider complaints to the insurer if the insurer advertises such oversight in its literature to attract members and increase market share. The provider is in essence a contract employee.

Health care laws are vague on all these points. Any true reform would look into revamping such liability in its laws — not just focusing on whether to limit medical malpractice awards. Medical malpractice amounts to only 1% of the cost of medical care in the U.S. and it wouldn’t even be that much if doctors stopped making avoidable errors.

In fact, only a small number of suits are actually brought against negligent providers because often, the injured can’t afford the attorney fees and court costs to file suit. That is my predicament. I became disabled while insured by Cigna Healthcare because specialists just kept referring me for more and more tests and to other specialists. They couldn’t decide who was responsible for the diagnosis and treatment.

Until we revamp how health care is delivered, such wasteful spending will continue to mount. All my tests and doctor visits over two years cost nearly $50,000 and I was never diagnosed or treated. Now your tax dollars are paying for my Medicare and Disability award. This entire incident could have been avoided with a proper medical care system in place. The really sad part is I found this is a common occurrence that Americans don’t want to face because it is too depressing.

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