NYS Budget Proposal

It appears that New York State will have its first on-time budget in nearly 30 years (the last one coming when Mario Cuomo was Governor).  However, this was not without a fight that almost cost New Yorker's the right to seek fair compensation if they were victims of medical malpractice.  The proposal that was put forward by the hospital and insurance industry included a cap of $250,000 on pain & suffering awards and created a "fund" to assist in payment of medical costs for brain damaged babies.  The inherent problem with this proposal was that it did nothing to "fix" the problems with Medicaid.  In fact, when analyzed this plan would actually cost Medicaid more money.  First, when a person is successful in recovering money in a lawsuit he/she must repay any funds spent by Medicaid - thus the lawsuit is adding money back into the Medicaid system (this is a good thing). If there is no incentive to bring a lawsuit there is no repayment triggered.  Second, the plan disproportionately impacts the poor, elderly and children.  This is because you can still seek recovery for lost earnings under the MRT proposal.  That means a Wall Street Stockbroker can still recover a large award for lost earnings while a retiree, a child or someone who is unemployed gets nothing.  Third, the MRT plan seeks to insulate the wrongdoers from the most egregious errors instead of correcting the problems that lead to malpractice.  New York Presbyterian Hospital revamped their Obstetrics Department and made simple, logical changes to the way they treated patients.  This program resulted in a 99% drop in medical malpractice payments (from approximately $28M to only $250,000) over a 6 year span.  They were able to reduce their expense to almost nothing because they gave patients better care - not because they unfairly capped damages.