The sticker price for health care is similar to the sticker price on a car, according to reform-minded Missouri State Rep. Alex Riley (R-Springfield).
Riley explained that consumers usually don’t end up paying the full amount, with insurance companies or Medicare negotiating a lower bill.
For that reason, he's introduced legislation requiring plaintiffs in lawsuits to claim only the amount paid for medical expenses, not the sticker price.
“Under our current structure in Missouri, plaintiffs can go to trial and tell juries that they sustained $2,000 in medical damages, when in reality they have only sustained $1,000 in medical damages because that is the actual cost of the medical care – the amount that is required to satisfy the medical provider,” Riley told the St. Louis Record.
Missuour legislators attempted in 2017 to change the standard.
“The language the legislature used wasn’t crystal clear,” Riley said of a past attempt at reform. “Because of that, the courts and the plaintiff’s attorneys found some ways around what the legislature’s intent was. Unfortunately, the statute that was ultimately passed didn’t do quite what the legislature intended.”
Riley’s bill, HB 577, will achieve what the legislature intended in 2017, he said.
“We added an entirely new section, just to be crystal clear about the intent of the bill,” he said.
He thinks the language will stick this time around and that his bill will pass.
“It has passed both the Litigation Reform committee and the Rules committee in the House,” he said. “It is now ready to come to a vote by the full House shortly.”
He is optimistic the Senate will also approve the bill.
“It’s a high priority tort reform bill,” he said.
The measure is opposed by the state’s trial lawyers, but that opposition can be overcome, Riley said.
“When we have as large a Republican majority as we do in both the House and Senate and with tort reform being a priority from leadership, that allows us to overcome the strong lobbying efforts of the trial attorneys,” Riley said.