[ceejayoz]

http://www.latimes.com/business/hiltzik/la-fi-mh-another-stu...

> The notion has lived on despite copious evidence that that the so-called defensive medicine practiced by doctors merely to stave off lawsuits accounts for, at best, 2% to 3% of U.S. healthcare costs. As for "frivolous lawsuits," they're a problem that exists mostly in the minds of conservatives and the medical establishment.

> A new study led by Michael B. Rothberg of the Cleveland Clinic and published in the Journal of the American Medical Association aimed to measure how much defensive medicine there is, really, and how much it costs. The researchers' conclusion is that defensive medicine accounts for about 2.9% of healthcare spending. In other words, out of the estimated $2.7-trillion U.S. healthcare bill, defensive medicine accounts for $78 billion.

[BryanBeshore]

Interesting points, but this still does not shed light on the effective insurance costs physicians pay (annually and over the life of a practice), in case a malpractice suit is brought against them.

[ceejayoz]

https://prescriptions.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/08/31/would-tor...

> Q. But critics of the current system say that 10 to 15 percent of medical costs are due to medical malpractice.

> A. That’s wildly exaggerated. According to the actuarial consulting firm Towers Perrin, medical malpractice tort costs were $30.4 billion in 2007, the last year for which data are available. We have a more than a $2 trillion health care system. That puts litigation costs and malpractice insurance at 1 to 1.5 percent of total medical costs. That’s a rounding error. Liability isn’t even the tail on the cost dog. It’s the hair on the end of the tail.

Even at the 10-15% number, that's meaning the vast majority of costs still come from elsewhere.

[BryanBeshore]

I'm referring to what are the out of pocket costs a physician pays in malpractice insurance -- the cost they pay, even if a lawsuit is not brought against them.

Not the cost of actual malpractice lawsuits

[germanier]

If there is at least a bit of competition in malpractice insurance "the out of pocket costs a physician pays in malpractice insurance -- the cost they pay, even if a lawsuit is not brought against them" and "the cost of actual malpractice lawsuits" should be fairly close on average.

[ceejayoz]

And my quote states "malpractice insurance".

> That puts litigation costs and malpractice insurance at 1 to 1.5 percent of total medical costs.