Chicago Sun-Times, August 17, 2009

Health care reform is a vital issue to all Americans, as the current debate shows. The discussion needs to be vigorous and open to all views, but what damages that discussion is when urban legends and plain untruths enter the dialogue. Worse is when those falsehoods are not challenged by the media.

In a recent letter to this paper, Ed Murnane repeats falsehoods about medical liability insurance. First is his, and the insurance industry's, unchallenged claim that because of insurance costs doctors are "fleeing" Illinois. Not true, and they know it - and so should the Sun-Times. According to the American Medical Association, the number of doctors in Illinois has been steadily increasing over the past decade.

For years the insurance industry, through their spokesperson Murnane, has tried to convince the public that medical negligence victims are responsible for the increase in health care costs. This is being said despite Illinois' largest malpractice insurer reporting payouts remaining flat for the past 13 years.

Finally is the claim that lawsuit reform would keep doctors from practicing "defensive medicine." Studies from the Congressional Budget Office and Government Accountability Office have all cast doubts on the existence of "defensive medicine." Doctors run more tests because it benefits their patients.

The insurance reforms contained in the 2005 legislation worked. These changes have resulted in a reduction of malpractice premiums. The law forced malpractice insurance companies to provide greater transparency on rate-setting and payouts. That in turn spurred competition, motivated more companies to enter the marketplace, and lowered premiums for doctors.

Attacking the civil justice system will not provide the real reform needed for health care. America's legal system provides justice to those who are injured or killed by medical negligence. If there is negligence, the patient should not have to suffer the further indignity of a closed courtroom.

Peter J. Flowers
President
Illinois Trial Lawyers Association
St. Charles