Mahoning Valley residents should back efforts to reform medical insurance

EDITOR:
Recently, your newspaper ran an article that informed the public about the increasing number of local physicians who are leaving the area and the practice of medicine because of rising malpractice costs.
However, the problem is much more severe and the consequences are much more ominous and far-reaching in our community than your article detailed. These physicians are just a few of the unfortunate casualties of Ohio's malpractice crisis, which is now eroding the pool of quality health care providers in our own community. Many of the physicians in our area have lived in the Mahoning Valley for most of their lives, and most have forged strong emotional, social and economic ties to the communities they live in. They have a vested interest in the area, and they are now being forced to consider the strong possibility of leaving the communities that have much more than economic value to them.
This crisis experience is causing many local physicians to re-evaluate their career choices and has made even the best area doctors feel exploited, vulnerable, discouraged and nervous. To further compound the problem, the Youngstown area is notorious for being one of the most litigious regions in the state. Consequently, our area physicians are forced to pay even higher malpractice premiums than other Ohio physicians. In this physician-unfriendly environment, how can this community ever hope to replace the physicians who are leaving? At the same time, insurance reimbursement to physicians continues to inexplicably drop. Physicians cannot offset the inflationary increases in the cost of operating their practices because of insurance contracts and government regulations.
A medical practice is a business. Area physicians are being forced to make difficult and heartbreaking career decisions because of the current malpractice crisis. Because their malpractice insurance premiums have skyrocketed, doctors in this area are being pushed to the economic breaking point, taking measures that would have been unthinkable only a few years ago, including:
UClosing medical practices and moving to states with significantly lower malpractice premiums.
UCeasing to offer high risk procedures to patients and referring them to hospitals in other areas of the state or other states.
UHolding back on purchasing new equipment for their offices.
UCutting back on medical office staff, contributing to higher local unemployment.
URefusing to see Medicare, Medicaid, and other low-income patient groups because of exceptionally low reimbursement rates.
Consequently, the ramifications of the Ohio malpractice crisis affect all of us and adversely affect the quality of health care that is available in the Youngstown area. The exodus of physicians from the Mahoning Valley will continue and grow unless this problem is solved. Without tort and medical insurance reform, patients and our community will suffer. Patients need to rally behind their physicians in this battle, and contact their local legislators in support of tort and medical insurance reform. We are at the point where we must choose -- either unlimited jury awards or continued access to health care. We cannot have both.
JILL M. BERQUIST-BOGEN
Canfield