>>>It's also worth noting how much of health care cost is due to legal liability. I find it ironic that a political party so heavily funding by trial lawyers is hoped for as the savior of health care. Ask John Edwards why there are so many Ceasarians performed in the US. No political party's hands are clean on this and I certainly would be in favor of universal health insurance and serious clinical preventive care outreach, but until there is tort reform it is very unlikely costs are going to be able to be reduced significantly.
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>>I truly believe that I've heard/read that HMOs are basiclly immune from (most?) malpractice suits.
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>>Is that incorrect?
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>I don't follow. How could an HMO be guilty of malpractice in the first place? Don't you have to practice? That sounds like a channeling-Dragan line but I'm serious. HMOs don't perform any medical procedures so how could they be sued for malpractice?

By refusing treatment (or drug prescriptions) ordered by a doctor. By having doctors on their list who are known to be far less than stellar. By delaying treatment using paperwork. The list goes on and on.
I agree that it may not be, techniclly, "malpractice". But it still hurts or kills patients.