US: THE OTHER EXTREME

 

 

Everybody knows that Americans love litigation. They have more lawyers and more cases than even massacres of innocent citizens by crazed gunmen. The ease with which aggrieved consumers can sue companies, lawyers, city councils, doctors, hospitals and anyone else has gone a long way in protecting consumer rights in the US. The fact that independent juries have handed out huge compensations to victims, has been another sledgehammer blow against companies and professions that take the American consumer for granted. This litigation happy environment has also led to peculiar problems; the most acute one being faced by the medical profession. Effectively, litigation at the drop of a hat and the penchant of juries to hand out multimillion dollar compensation packages and punitive damages, has made medical care and treatment the most expensive in the world. Things are in such a sorry state that it is virtually impossible for an ordinary citizen to access health care, unless he or she has health insurance, because everything is terribly expensive.

The reason for this is simple. Insurance companies have realised that doctors and hospitals can be slapped with a malpractice suit that could eventually cost the insurance company millions of dollars in payouts. When it comes to doctors and hospitals, insurance companies charge premiums that might appear extortionist even to a Formula 1 driver! Of course, doctors in India need not worry about such matters. For, the pendulum swings the other way here!