Medical-Tort Law: Ranking the States

How much do a state’s laws governing medical malpractice and other torts relevant to health care affect the availability of care?  Plenty!

Lawrence J. McQuillan’s & Hovannes Abramyan’s 2010 edition of the U.S. Tort Liability Index, which has a number of measurements included in the U.S. Index of Health Ownership, ranks states according to 42 variables.

Eight of the measurements in the U.S. Tort Liability Index are relevant to the U.S Index of Health Ownership: One output and seven inputs. The previous edition of the U.S Index of Health Ownership included six measurements of medical tort, but McQuillan & Abramyan have discovered more variables for their 2010 edition of the Tort Liability Index, allowing more detailed measurement.

As a partial update of the U.S. Index of Health Ownership, this brief analysis calculates a medical-tort index from a simple average of the eight relevant variables.  Mississippi, Nevada, Michigan, Colorado, and Louisiana lead the pack; while Vermont, Rhode Island, Kentucky, Pennsylvania, and Iowa bring up the rear. Even the leaders, however, lag in some measurements.

Mississippi, for example, leads on procedural rules: Pre-trial screening or arbitration and conditions on the use of expert witnesses. However, it does not limit lawyers’ ability to abuse their privilege by limiting their share of awards. Colorado and Louisiana also fail to impose limits. Unfortunately, the laggards do not show a similar pattern: The bottom five states perform poorly in all eight measurements.

Reducing the burden of medical tort is critical to increasing Americans’ health ownership and reducing medical costs that curtail our access to care. Some progress is evident, but states aiming to improve their medical-tort laws still have a long way to go.

In Michigan, Health Care Freedom Loses a Battle

Michigan Citizens for Healthcare Freedom, the group behind an effort to put an anti-ObamaCare measure on the fall ballot, has fallen short in its petition-gathering effort. It gathered roughly 40% of the signatures it needed before the deadline established by law.

A spokesman for a group that supports ObamaCare says “The real goal of this exercise is to defeat Democrats.” I’m sure that some Republicans who don’t care much about health care freedom will use ObamaCare as a campaign tool. But the spokesman is hallucinating if he thinks that opposition to the nationalization of health care is simply an insincere partisan exercise.

A representative of the National Federation of Independent Businesses-Michigan, which helped with the petition drive, was undeterred. “This is one battle in a big war.”

High-deductible Policies in Action

Public schools in Michigan could save $26 billion over a 10-year period if its employees switched from low-deductible health insurance policies to high-deductible policies that were matched with health savings accounts. That’s the calculation of the Mackinac Center for Public Policy. The center points out the benefits to employees: “money [in an HSA] stays with the employee, even if he or she changes jobs, and contributions, earned interest and health expense withdrawals are all tax-free. The money can be used to pay any qualified medical expense, and after the employee turns 65, can be used for anything, just like a traditional IRA.

U.S. District Judge Denies Governors on Lawsuit

Last week, Gov. Chris Gregoire of Washington, Gov. Ed Rendell of Pennsylvania, Gov. Bill Ritter of Colorado, and Gov. Jennifer Granholm of Michigan all filed a motion in federal court, seeking permission to submit a friend of the court brief. They wanted to go in the record in favor of the new federal health care law, in the case that some states are bringing against the U.S. Government. In at each of the four states, Republican attorneys general joined in the suit over the objections of the Democratic governors.

The federal judge in the case, Roger Vinson, said no, but that the governors may try again should the case go to trial.

Young Michiganders Oppose ObamaCare

A poll conducted for the Detroit Free Press and WXYZ-TV of “active or likely voters” shows that a majority of Michiganders (51%) oppose the new health care law. The cross-tabs, such as we know about them, are even more interesting: 92% of blacks favor it, while it is opposed by 69% of those age 18-29. Maybe the young adults don’t like being told that they must purchase health insurance, and on terms that discriminate against their relatively healthy status.

In addition, twice as many people  ”strongly oppose” the measure (38%) as who “strongly favor” it (19%).

Health Care Freedom Petition Drive Gains Support in Michigan

The effort in Michigan to place a constitutional question relating to health care policy on the fall ballot has gained some support. Both the state Republican Party and the state chapter of the National Federation of Independent Businesses have decided to lend a hand, according to Michigan Capitol Confidential.

The effort is being coordinated by Michigan Citizens for Healthcare Freedom.

The language of the measure is below the fold.

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Smoke ‘em If You’d Like–We Can’t Afford to Catch You

Smoking bans meet unfunded mandates: “Kent County’s Health Department has said it won’t enforce the state’s smoking ban at establishments that don’t offer food service because the $65,000 in state funding that’s being offered over two years would not cover costs.”

Kent County is home to Grand Rapids, the second-largest city in Michigan.

Stupak to Retire

Rep. Bart Stupak (D-Mich.) has announced his retirement. Stupak, as you know, was the”pro-life Democrat who exchanged his vote in favor of ObamaCare for an executive order that both pro-life and pro-choice observers say won’t do anything to stop the health care law from opening the way for public funding of abortion. Tea Party activists say they chased Stupak from office; Stupak says he’s leaving for family reasons. Of course, you’d expect both parties to say just what they’ve said.

Opponents of ObamaCare may take some comfort from his departure, but the deed has already been done. Stupak’s vote, which sealed the deal, will be the poison that keeps on giving, long after his departure from office.

Michigan Group Starts Ballot Initiative

The Michigan group Common Sense in Government (web site, Facebook) is working on placing the Michigan Health care Freedom Amendment on the fall ballot. The Grand Rapids Press wrote a short story on a meeting of the group. It says, “But with 380,126 signatures required to place the amendment on the November ballot, organizers acknowledge they have a tough path ahead.” Still, initiatives have left a lasting mark on the state in matters such as the tax system and the means of funding schools, so don’t rule it the effort out just yet.

The best line of the story comes from one of the participants at the meeting, who said, “You can’t complain if you don’t do something.”

Is the Insurance Mandate Constitutional? No, and Yes

Randy Barnett, a professor of constitutional law at Georgetown University, lends some support to legal challenges to ObamaCare. The Lansing State Journal offers a review of the effort, highlighting the participation of Mike Cox, the attorney general of Michigan. “These are serious constitutional claims that are being raised. They will have to be resolved by the (U.S.) Supreme Court eventually.”

The Journal also finds a professor who says the law, including the individual mandate, is constitutional: “This is first-year constitutional law stuff.”

My favorite part of the story, though, may come in the comments section, in which one reader responds to a previous comment: “Replying to ourgovernmentiscorrupt: If our Government is corrupt, why do you want them managing your health care?”