The American people overwhelmingly want medical liability reform included in any health care bill passed by the US Congress, according to a national poll of 1,009 adults. Sixty-nine percent of those surveyed believe medical liability reform should be included in any broad health care reform legislation passed by Congress, while a mere 20 percent opposed these efforts.
The National Quorum poll of 1,009 Americans was conducted in October 2009 for the Health Coalition on Liability and Access by Harris Interactive. The margin of error is +/- 3 percentage points at a 95 percent confidence level.
According to the poll, a wide majority of Americans believe:
Elected Representatives Should Support Comprehensive Reforms: Nearly two-thirds of the Americans surveyed (62 percent) said they wanted their elected representatives in Washington to support comprehensive medical liability reform, and 69 percent want reforms included in current health care reform proposals being debated in the House and Senate.
Quality Health Care is At Risk: Seventy-two percent of the people surveyed believe their access to affordable, high-quality health care is threatened because medical liability costs are forcing good doctors out of medicine.
Commonsense Limits on Non-Economic Damages and Attorneys Fees are the Solution: By a wide margin, 70 percent of Americans support full payment for lost wages and medical expenses and reasonable limits on awards for non-economic “pain and suffering.” Sixty-eight percent of those polled also favor a law to limit the fees personal injury lawyers can take from an award or settlement.
Medical Lawsuits Drive Up Costs for Everyone: Sixty-four percent of poll participants said medical liability lawsuits are one of the primary reasons behind rising health care costs. Additionally, more than half of respondents (54 percent) believe that there is abuse of the liability system and the number of medical liability lawsuits is higher than justified, while only fifteen percent said the number of lawsuits is lower than is justified.
The results are clear – Americans support medical liability reform
and want to include it in health care reform legislation.
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