EDITORIAL - The role of medical liability reform in federal health care reform

[Guest guest]

NEJM

Volume 361:1-3 July 2, 2009 Number 1

The Role of Medical Liability Reform in Federal Health Care Reform

M. Mello, J.D., Ph.D., M.Phil., and Troyen A. Brennan, M.D.,

J.D., M.P.H.

Although enthusiasm for health care reform is resounding in Washington

these days, the specific shape reform will take and the compromises

that will have to be made along the way are opaque. Currently, much of

the discussion centers on possibilities for insurance mandates, a

public insurance plan modeled after Medicare, and the methods that

will be used to control costs.1 Many other issues will have to be

addressed, including physician payment reform, the future of Medicare

Advantage, providers' participation in public programs, the role of

expansions of Medicaid, and of course, the funding mechanism for any

increase in government expenditures. A further question is whether the

reform package should include reforms to the medical liability system,

which is often blamed for contributing to rising health care costs.

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Read the full editorial here:

http://content.nejm.org/cgi/content/full/361/1/1?query=TOC

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