The Journal of American health policy
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Many key health reform bills in the 103rd Congress include proposals to overhaul the medical malpractice system. One of the factors motivating such legislation is the practice of defensive medicine, or care that does not benefit the patient and is provided solely to avoid malpractice claims. Estimating the costs of defensive medicine is difficult because of the many conflicting and overlapping motivations facing physicians. Although our estimates delineate a wide range of potential savings, systemwide savings from aggressive malpractice reform could approach $41 billion over five years.
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Congress must seize the opportunity President Clinton has created to make some long-needed changes to the nation's health system. But we can't afford the expensive and experimental measures contained in the Clinton bill or in the other measures now being debated in Congress. What we can do this year is pass measures that revamp the insurance market, expand access to the uninsured through community health centers, eliminate administrative burdens, and reform our medical malpractice and antitrust systems.
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Rejecting the Clinton Administration's call for mandatory health alliances, a key congressional panel recently passed a bill that expands the Medicare program to cover low-income and uninsured Americans. While some have criticized the bill's cost-containment provisions, the panel agreed that universal coverage cannot be achieved without a national health budget.
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Even President Clinton's supporters say his proposal to finance health reform is politically unrealistic. It's that--and more. His plan to raise $441 billion over five years would reduce services to elderly and poor Americans, assumes savings unmatched anywhere in the Western world, and ignores the federal government's dismal track record in forecasting what new benefits will cost.