The Georgia governor has argued changes to the state’s civil litigation system are needed to rein in insurance costs. But would they?
Gov. Brian Kemp’s legislation seeking to overhaul Georgia’s civil litigation system would impact nearly every industry in the state. That includes health care, which has been facing access, finance and quality challenges, especially in rural areas.
One section of the bill impacts the kinds of lawsuits medical patients can bring when they feel they have been injured during a health care visit or operation. It would limit the amount of money a plaintiff could receive to “the reasonable value of medically necessary care, treatment, or services.”
During discussions on the legislation, lawmakers have sought to gain clarity on how hospital charges, insurance costs and the real pain and suffering of a patient who is harmed would factor into the total amount.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution has reached out to experts to answer questions about Senate Bill 68’s impact on health. Here’s what we found. …
Would the civil litigation legislation reduce patients’ health care insurance rates or health care costs?
Experts disagree.
Georgia has been looking outward — especially to Alabama, Florida, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee and Texas — as examples of states that have enacted legislation addressing civil litigation.
However, those states have yielded mixed results. For example, as insurance companies lobbied the Florida Legislature in 2022 to make it harder to sue, they claimed they had lost millions of dollars. But a report by The Tampa Bay Times found that the insurers’ “affiliate companies made billions.” (An affiliate is a separate company, where the parent owns less than 50%.)
For general surgery and OB-GYN specialties, which are considered high malpractice risk, and internal medicine, considered medium risk, Black’s report found their liability coverage rates in neighboring Southern states “fell in the 1990s, rose rapidly from 2000-2005, and have gradually declined since, although not in every year.”
When it comes to patients, Jason Branch, an Atlanta attorney who represents plaintiffs in medical malpractice cases, said “there’s nothing in SB 68 that addresses health care premiums and health care costs and a patient’s health care premium will not be impacted whatsoever by SB 68.”
Joanne Doroshow, the executive director of the Center for Justice & Democracy and an adjunct professor at New York Law School, said “what drives insurance rates up and down has nothing to do with claims or litigation. It has to do with the profit cycle of the insurance industry.”
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