Healthcare providers, insurers and so-called “tort-reformers” are wont to attribute high rising healthcare costs to medical malpractice claims. However, such self-serving cries belie statistics that put medical negligence claims at less than 1% – possibly less than ½ of 1% – of all healthcare costs.
TIME’s Special Report, “Bitter Pill: Why Medical Bills are Killing Us” by Steven Brill, exposes huge drug mark-ups, hefty executive salaries, and more institutional excesses. The following is a link to that publication on February 20, 2013, as revised February 26, 2013: https://time.com/198/bitter-pill-why-medical-bills-are-killing-us/.
On February 21, 2013, Brill was interviewed at length by Jon Stewart on The Daily Show, per the following link: https://www.thedailyshow.com/full-episodes/thu-february-21-2013-steven-brill. Brill also was interviewed recently on National Public Radio (“NPR”).
On March 1, 2013, New York Times published “Shocked, Shocked, Over Hospital Bills,” by Uwe E. Reinhardt of Princeton, arguably the most respected healthcare economist in America. The link to his article, which amplifies some of Brill’s illustrations of healthcare gouging, follows: https://economix.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/03/01/shocked-shocked-over-hospital-bills/?ref=business.
