Republicans in Congress introduced at least part of their plan to replace Obamacare this week, but it is still far too early to tell what impact it will have on our ability to purchase affordable health insurance. Given the level of concern we’re hearing from lawmakers on both sides of the aisle in D.C., it is probably too early to tell if the plan will end up making it to President Trump for his signature. If that does happen, it isn’t likely to be soon, and it will take quite a bit of time after that for us to learn whether the latest federal effort to rein in healthcare costs is going to enjoy any measure of success.
Regardless, it is unlikely that any attempt to lower the overall cost of care will succeed if it is only pursued on the federal level, and we want to encourage our own legislators to continue to look for ways to make healthcare more affordable in Wyoming.
As such, we strongly urge them to take another look at amending the state’s Constitution to place a limit on the amount of money that can be collected in medical malpractice suits.
Tort reform failed in this state by a narrow margin more than a decade ago, but we think voters are much more sensitive to the costs of healthcare and insurance than they were earlier in this century, and are far more likely to approve the measure.
Opponents of caps on such lawsuits predict tort reform will have a minimal impact on the overall cost of healthcare, but we have never heard them argue that there will be no impact at all, or that the effect would be negative. Considering that nothing else has proven effective at controlling cost even a little bit, we think it makes sense to at least try something that will certainly help a little— and may prove to help a lot! It serves to reason that if doctors are exposed to less financial liability for the services they provide, the cost of insurance for healthcare providers and facilities will go down because doctors and hospitals will enjoy greater availability and selection in insurance coverage.
We have also been told that young physicians are discouraged from looking for work in states that don’t put a cap on torts, and it is certain that Wyoming would attract a larger pool of healthcare providers if lawsuits were capped. It is also likely that rural hospitals like ours would be able to provide more services if tort reform was approved by voters, and we’re pretty sure nobody would object to the local facility once again being able to afford the insurance coverage necessary to allow them to deliver babies here.
We certainly hope that the new healthcare plan being formulated in Washington D.C. will provide some relief, but our state leaders pointed out the folly of looking for solutions in the nation’s capital when Obamacare was approved. We agreed then and do now, so we urge them to take this one obvious step to producing at least part of the solution right here in Wyoming.