December 16, 2007

Tennessee: Crisis State for Healthcare Access, AMA Says

According to a January 2007 report by the American Medical Association, 17 states, including Tennessee, are currently in “medical crisis” in terms of numbers of physicians and specialists, available facilities, and affordable insurance coverage.

In its new report, Medical Crisis: A Pocketbook Matter for Employers (PDF), the American Justice Partnership reveals how patient access to health care directly affects the cost of employer-paid health insurance, affecting, and how in states that fail to embrace common sense legal reform, employers face an ever-mounting threat of health care-related litigation.

For lawmakers across the nation, the report connects the financial costs of the medical malpractice crisis with the broader economy. In states like Texas, Mississippi, and West Virginia, where state elected officials have enacted legal reforms, the business 'bottom line' improves - costs go down, companies expand, and jobs are created. In states like Pennsylvania, described by the AMA as an "extreme crisis' state for health care, the unfettered threat of litigation has resulted in some of the highest employer costs in the nation.

Passing meaningful medical malpractice lawsuit reform would help Tennessee taxpayers. As the AJP report notes, states that have done so have seen costs go down, access to specialized critical care services improve, and - this is key - the number of insured rise.

What would that mean in Tennessee? The more people insured, the fewer who need to be on TennCare.