Medical Bills in Court

Patients often ask their doctors, “What will that cost?”

The costs of certain medical procedures generally follows this axiom of capitalism: Whatever the market will bear. This approach doesn’t change just because someone is receiving care for an injury that is the fault of someone else or the responsibility of a liability insurance company. Moreover, if medical providers agree to a reduced percentage of their actual charge when a health insurer (or Medicare) has negotiated a better value for its policyholders, should the same bargain be extended to a tortfeasor who acted recklessly and is looking to get a cut-rate bargain on paying medical bills that result from such negligent conduct?

A new measure in the Florida legislature (HB 1199) seeks to keep free market notions of capitalism out of the courtroom so that a jury would be allowed to determine the value of medical costs that will be assessed against a negligent defendant for the medical care and treatment of his injured victim. Essentially this measure would extend the bargained rate of health insurance companies or Medicare to the wrongful actor who caused injury while still leaving the injured claimant with the responsibility to pay his doctor’s balance.

The bargained discount for medical services that is enjoyed by health insurers or Medicare is in exchange for reliable, quick payment and a ready base of customers in line to access medical care. The patient who has the means to pay outside of insurance doesn’t get these kinds of discounts, but has the freedom to choose his or her doctors without the headache and costs of insurance that are incurred regardless of the need for medical care. Why would the legislature want to give discounts on accountability to those who are negligent? That kind of thinking doesn’t promote a safer society and it bucks the capitalistic principles upon which the market operates, in favor of the negligent and reckless!

The measure amounts to giving wrongdoers a discount on accountability. Additionally, the innocent injury claimant would be forced to pay the balance of medical bills that were not assessed against the person whose negligence caused the injury. Long story short: good guys lose and bad guys win.

Call your representative or senator today and say you don’t want HB 1199. Reckless and negligence actors must be held fully accountable and pay what the market will bear.