News in brief - Dec. 18, 2006

Lawyers sue over Ill. liability cap - Dr. Frist nixes White House bid - Medicare pays HMOs better than traditional plans

Lawyers sue over Ill. liability cap

Illinois trial lawyers on Nov. 20 announced their challenge to the state's cap on noneconomic damages in medical liability cases with the filing of a negligence lawsuit in Chicago.

The suit, alleging a birth injury that left a child with severe brain damage, asks the court to declare the state's $500,000 limit on jury awards unconstitutional because it would not fairly compensate the child's family.

Doctors said they expected an eventual fight over the cap, passed in 2005, but vowed to protect it. "Balance and fairness in our state's medical litigation system are integral to ensuring patient access to core medical services," said Illinois State Medical Society President Peter E. Eupierre, MD. The group said it was confident that the cap would pass constitutional muster.

Trial lawyers, meanwhile, are equally determined to defeat the limit, which the state Supreme Court has struck down twice before.

"Ultimately our goal must be justice for the victims of medical negligence," said Illinois Trial Lawyers Assn. President Judy L. Cates.

Dr. Frist nixes White House bid

Outgoing Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, MD (R, Tenn.), will not run for president in 2008, the senator announced last month. Dr. Frist, who did not seek re-election this year for his seat in the upper chamber, hinted in a statement that he may return full time to the practice of medicine. He also plans in the short term to continue participating in medical missions to foreign nations.

"I may eventually return to what I've done for most of my adult life, heal through medicine and health," Dr. Frist said. "I will continue to be a strong voice to fix what is broken in our health care system and to address the issues of clean water and public health globally. We will stay actively engaged in policy issues affecting the lives of Americans."

Medicare pays HMOs better than traditional plans

Payments to private Medicare managed care plans in 2005 averaged 12.4% more per enrollee compared with costs under the traditional fee-for-service option, said a recent study by the Commonwealth Fund.

The additional $5.2 billion that flowed to Medicare Advantage insurers translates into nearly $1,000 for every beneficiary who is enrolled in a private plan. Instead, this money could go toward expanding Medicare drug benefits or addressing shortfalls in physician payments, writes lead author Brian Biles, MD, MPH, a health policy professor at George Washington University in Washington, D.C.

America's Health Insurance Plans challenged the report's methodology and said it neglected other areas in which Medicare Advantage plans are saving money for beneficiaries and the government.