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pa_bourbon t1_iy0s2av wrote

Reply to comment by Der_Missionar in As Western Pa. hospitals expand, fears grow over higher health care costs, and Wolf's plan to address the situation by Der_Missionar

There is one additional complexity. PA has not passed tort reform for medical malpractice. As a result, awards are basically unlimited and up to jury discretion.

That makes malpractice insurance for private practices VERY expensive. Large conglomerates like UPMC and AHN pool the risk and may even self insure to some degree.

Local doctors just can’t afford it. I have a buddy that was a urologist. He was paying over 750K a year for malpractice insurance in PA for a 5 doctor private practice group almost 10 years ago. He moved to a midwestern state that had reasonable tort reform in place and paid $400K for a 7 doctor private practice in the same field.

Those malpractice insurance costs are driving a lot of doctors to sell.

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