Supreme court considers fucking over the country, again.

[Doktor Howl]

Thats what problem i have with the mandate. Thats where my inner socialist jumps out and starts talking about socialized healthcare.

Yep.

I've always been a fan of socialized health care.

[Random Probability]

Wait.  I thought healthcare was so expensive because of the high cost of malpractice insurance.  Which, in turn, is the result some breathtakingly massive malpractice awards.

Wouldn't tort reform be a better place to start to get a handle on this problem?

Or, you know, fuck me to death....

[Doktor Howl]

Wait.  I thought healthcare was so expensive because of the high cost of malpractice insurance.  Which, in turn, is the result some breathtakingly massive malpractice awards.

Wouldn't tort reform be a better place to start to get a handle on this problem?

Or, you know, fuck me to death....

Have some Koolaid™, Limbaugh-Boy.

Tort payouts have not increased since 1980.  Malpractice insurance premiums, though,  have gone up 350%.  Torts have nothing to do with the cost of malpractice insurance.  Unregulated insurance companies have everything to do with the cost of malpractice insurance.

[Cain]

In regards to the OP:

In large republics, a neglectful ruling class can mostly afford to ignore the citizenry, as they can move to gated communities and national organization is hard for citizens to achieve.

This is why I, as a rule, prefer city states.  While there are some obvious downsides, such as being conquered by nation-states, the ruling class of a city-state cannot afford to not be active in the political life of the country and take into account the needs of all citizens.  Because when a revolution comes, the revolutionaries all know your address.  And a city is just about the optimal size for when it comes to self-organisation without anarchy or top-down tyranny, meaning shit gets sorted out.

[Bebek Sincap Ratatosk]

Wait.  I thought healthcare was so expensive because of the high cost of malpractice insurance.  Which, in turn, is the result some breathtakingly massive malpractice awards.

Wouldn't tort reform be a better place to start to get a handle on this problem?

Or, you know, fuck me to death....

Have some Koolaid™, Limbaugh-Boy.

Tort payouts have not increased since 1980.  Malpractice insurance premiums, though,  have gone up 350%.  Torts have nothing to do with the cost of malpractice insurance.  Unregulated insurance companies have everything to do with the cost of malpractice insurance.

Agreed.

Before the law passed, there was some discussion of allowing healthcare to work across state borders which would let places like Wal-Mart offer cheap basic insurance. There was also discussions about allowing co-ops that would get the same benefits as companies of an equal size. None of those are perfect, but they would be far more effective than tort reform.

I have become a fan of socialized medicine as well. It works in the UK, it works in Canada, it works here in Turkey. We had to go to the hospital a couple months ago and it was so simple when compared to going to a hospital in the US that I was stunned. You show your ID, pay 20 lira and see a doctor in 30 minutes or so.

[Doktor Howl]

Some fun facts concerning tort "reform":

http://www.saynotocaps.org/factsandfigures/justthefacts.htm

A Leading Texas Medical Malpractice Study – "Stability, Not Crisis: Medical Malpractice Claim Outcomes in Texas ," is the most extensive examination to date of a state's medical malpractice claims and its potential correlation to malpractice insurance premiums.  The study was done by leading law and medical school professors out of the University of Texas , University of Illinois , and Columbia University . The researchers reviewed every medical malpractice claim resolved by an insurer in Texas over a fifteen year period beginning in 1988.   Their findings include the following:

"The data present a picture of remarkable stability in most respects and slow, predictable change in others."
"We find no evidence of the medical malpractice crises that produced headlines over the last several years and led to legal reform in Texas and other states." 
"The rapid changes in insurance premiums that sparked the crises appear to reflect insurance market dynamics, largely disconnected from claim outcomes."
The three biggest insurers in the state have increased rates by an average of 135% over the last five years (1999-2003).  However, data from the Texas Department of Insurance shows that the number of claims, the value of claims, and the rate of claims per physician have all remained constant or declined over the last decade. 

[Bebek Sincap Ratatosk]

Some fun facts concerning tort "reform":

http://www.saynotocaps.org/factsandfigures/justthefacts.htm

A Leading Texas Medical Malpractice Study – "Stability, Not Crisis: Medical Malpractice Claim Outcomes in Texas ," is the most extensive examination to date of a state's medical malpractice claims and its potential correlation to malpractice insurance premiums.  The study was done by leading law and medical school professors out of the University of Texas , University of Illinois , and Columbia University . The researchers reviewed every medical malpractice claim resolved by an insurer in Texas over a fifteen year period beginning in 1988.   Their findings include the following:

"The data present a picture of remarkable stability in most respects and slow, predictable change in others."
"We find no evidence of the medical malpractice crises that produced headlines over the last several years and led to legal reform in Texas and other states." 
"The rapid changes in insurance premiums that sparked the crises appear to reflect insurance market dynamics, largely disconnected from claim outcomes."
The three biggest insurers in the state have increased rates by an average of 135% over the last five years (1999-2003).  However, data from the Texas Department of Insurance shows that the number of claims, the value of claims, and the rate of claims per physician have all remained constant or declined over the last decade. 

Well the head of that research panel is a slut.

[Doktor Howl]

Some fun facts concerning tort "reform":

http://www.saynotocaps.org/factsandfigures/justthefacts.htm

A Leading Texas Medical Malpractice Study – "Stability, Not Crisis: Medical Malpractice Claim Outcomes in Texas ," is the most extensive examination to date of a state's medical malpractice claims and its potential correlation to malpractice insurance premiums.  The study was done by leading law and medical school professors out of the University of Texas , University of Illinois , and Columbia University . The researchers reviewed every medical malpractice claim resolved by an insurer in Texas over a fifteen year period beginning in 1988.   Their findings include the following:

"The data present a picture of remarkable stability in most respects and slow, predictable change in others."
"We find no evidence of the medical malpractice crises that produced headlines over the last several years and led to legal reform in Texas and other states." 
"The rapid changes in insurance premiums that sparked the crises appear to reflect insurance market dynamics, largely disconnected from claim outcomes."
The three biggest insurers in the state have increased rates by an average of 135% over the last five years (1999-2003).  However, data from the Texas Department of Insurance shows that the number of claims, the value of claims, and the rate of claims per physician have all remained constant or declined over the last decade. 

Well the head of that research panel is a slut.

And an America-hater.

[Cain]

Wait.  I thought healthcare was so expensive because of the high cost of malpractice insurance.  Which, in turn, is the result some breathtakingly massive malpractice awards.

Wouldn't tort reform be a better place to start to get a handle on this problem?

Or, you know, fuck me to death....

Have some Koolaid™, Limbaugh-Boy.

Tort payouts have not increased since 1980.  Malpractice insurance premiums, though,  have gone up 350%.  Torts have nothing to do with the cost of malpractice insurance.  Unregulated insurance companies have everything to do with the cost of malpractice insurance.

Agreed.

Before the law passed, there was some discussion of allowing healthcare to work across state borders which would let places like Wal-Mart offer cheap basic insurance. There was also discussions about allowing co-ops that would get the same benefits as companies of an equal size. None of those are perfect, but they would be far more effective than tort reform.

I have become a fan of socialized medicine as well. It works in the UK, it works in Canada, it works here in Turkey. We had to go to the hospital a couple months ago and it was so simple when compared to going to a hospital in the US that I was stunned. You show your ID, pay 20 lira and see a doctor in 30 minutes or so.

It works so well in the UK, the Tories have decided, after decades of failed attempts to convince people that it is terrible, that they are just going to privatise it indirectly.

[Random Probability]

Wait.  I thought healthcare was so expensive because of the high cost of malpractice insurance.  Which, in turn, is the result some breathtakingly massive malpractice awards.

Wouldn't tort reform be a better place to start to get a handle on this problem?

Or, you know, fuck me to death....

Have some Koolaid™, Limbaugh-Boy.

Tort payouts have not increased since 1980.  Malpractice insurance premiums, though,  have gone up 350%.  Torts have nothing to do with the cost of malpractice insurance.  Unregulated insurance companies have everything to do with the cost of malpractice insurance.

Complete lack of data.  So sue me.  I'm inclined to believe your statistics, but I have nothing to base that upon other than your sterling character (and therefore can't believe you).  I just find it very hard to believe that in the past thirty years the lawyers haven't gotten any greedier (or at least kept up with the cost of living).  On the other hand, I have little difficulty imagining insurance companies arbitrarily raising premiums simply because they think their pockets are a little lighter than they could be.

[Doktor Howl]

Complete lack of data.  So sue me.  I'm inclined to believe your statistics, but I have nothing to base that upon other than your sterling character (and therefore can't believe you).

Well, that, and the link I provided.  It has about 300 sourced figures concerning payouts and premiums.

Oh, and concerning that last bit, go fuck yourself with a Sean Hannity DVD.

[Bebek Sincap Ratatosk]

Wait.  I thought healthcare was so expensive because of the high cost of malpractice insurance.  Which, in turn, is the result some breathtakingly massive malpractice awards.

Wouldn't tort reform be a better place to start to get a handle on this problem?

Or, you know, fuck me to death....

Have some Koolaid™, Limbaugh-Boy.

Tort payouts have not increased since 1980.  Malpractice insurance premiums, though,  have gone up 350%.  Torts have nothing to do with the cost of malpractice insurance.  Unregulated insurance companies have everything to do with the cost of malpractice insurance.

Complete lack of data.  So sue me.  I'm inclined to believe your statistics, but I have nothing to base that upon other than your sterling character (and therefore can't believe you).  I just find it very hard to believe that in the past thirty years the lawyers haven't gotten any greedier (or at least kept up with the cost of living).  On the other hand, I have little difficulty imagining insurance companies arbitrarily raising premiums simply because they think their pockets are a little lighter than they could be.

The Doktor may be rough, but if he quotes numbers... they're based on facts.

[Doktor Howl]

Aw, the RWN buggered off.   

[Nephew Twiddleton]

Dok did you track something in from capitol grilling?

[Doktor Howl]

Dok did you track something in from capitol grilling?

Naw, that's Warfrog/ASCII dude.  He changed his moniker.

But if I didn't know that, I'd assume that I had.