The following is a sure fire way to reduce health insurance costs to the public.

Health insurance costs started rising in 1976 when the legal profession here in the United States was allowed to start advertising. Attorneys will only file a law suit against parties who have the ability to pay, or against those who have an insurance company that's most likely to settle out of court. Because of this the Medical profession is a prime target for lawsuits, primarily because of the money to be gained by the legal profession from the medical facilities malpractice insurance company. After a law suit has been filed against a medical facility, the attorney for the plaintiff will seek an out of court settlement from the facilities malpractice insurance company, regardless of the strength of the case. The malpractice insurance company has two options: (1) Settle out of court or: (2) Go to court and face the cost of a very expensive jury trial. Why a jury trial? As per the 7th Amendment of the US Constitution that reads:

“In Suits at Common Law, where the value in controversy shall exceed twenty dollars, the right of trial by jury shall be preserved, and no fact tried to a jury, shall be otherwise reexamined in any Court of the United States, than according to the rules of the Common Law”.

Due to the 7th Amendment, either party to a CIVIL law suit can request a jury trial, the other party to the law suit has NO LEGAL right to object to a jury trial, this is where the Medical profession gets had! Here's a hypothetical example: The dollar amount stated in the law suit could be for any amount of money, the cost of a jury trial could be in the area of perhaps $250,000. The plaintiffs attorney would then offer to settle out of court for perhaps $100,000, an amount far less than the cost of a jury trial, the insurance company would most likely take the offer without the case going to trial because of this being the less expensive of the two. This is why as much as 50% of the medical facilities gross income is paid out for malpractice insurance, because of these “SO CALLED” out of court settlements! This added cost is then passed on to the public in the form of higher medical insurance premiums. On the other hand, if the case were tried by a judge the case would either be thrown out or a REASONABLE judgment entered.

A way to avoid this legalized EXTORSION and reduce the cost of medical coverage is to modify the 7th amendment to the US Constitution. The modification would state that BOTH the plaintiff(s) and the defendant(s) in a CIVIL law suit would MUTUALLY consent to a jury trial before a jury trial could take place, otherwise the case would tried by a judge. In most cases trial lawyers wouldn't bother filing a law suit if the consent of the defendant and plaintiff was a requirement for a JURY TRIAL because they wouldn't be able to use the threat of a JURY TRIAL to obtain a QUICK out of court settlement. This example applies ONLY to CIVIL law suits and WOULD NOT be applicable in criminal cases. In criminal cases the defendant would still be entitled to a criminal trial upon request.

With this modification to the 7th amendment in place lawsuits across the nation would drop off drastically, especially when it comes to the medical profession, and because of this the cost of malpractice insurance will drop accordingly, thus GREATLY reducing the cost of health insurance to the public! The only real problem with getting this modification to the 7th amendment passed is a good percentage of our congressional leaders are attorneys (including President Barrack Obama) who will fight this change to the very end, because it would make it far more difficult for them to EXTORT the public once they leave office and resume their primary profession as attorneys. It's time for TORT reform by chasing the FOX out of the hen house once and for all, and give the American public back affordable health coverage that they once had prior to 1976.

Please forward this message to everyone you know, including your congressman.

Patrick