Malpractice Insanity

Tsunami Post is HERE

I used to think that nationalized healthcare was financially logical based on the numbers showing our health care costs compared to European and other nations as a percentage of GDP, 15% in America vs 10% in Canada.. A couple of months ago I realized that the problem wasn't with failings of the free market, it's a failure of the judicial system that allows frivolous and massive payouts which leads to ridiuclous malpractice insurance premiums for hospitals/doctors.
A quote:
"But the lawyers who win those awards for malpractice victims and other opponents of Bush’s initiative say the real problem is insurers who look to raise premiums and, consequently, their bottom line."

It's amazing to me that people still use that argument. The last time I checked there was more than one insurance company in America. That means that like any other business if you jack up rates too high people with flock to the competition. So the implication is that there is a malpractice insurance monopoly yet I haven't heard any Democrats complaining about this implied monopoly. In fact a Google search for malpractice insurance monopoly returns all of two results.

You can't put a price on someone's life. Doctors are only human, they make mistakes too. A 15Billion dollar payment for a family victimized by malpractice isn't sufficient if you consider life priceless. We know life is worth more than money but we have to put a price on it. Not only that but that price can't be detrimental to the rest of society. I've heard arguments about how healthcare should be a right. It is a right in America right now. You can walk into an Emergency room if you're really desparate and legally you can not be turned away. For the rest of us though, the free market is a healthy alternative.

So my thinking goes like this: Malpractice frivolity is fixed - health insurance premiums drop dramatically - disposable income for all Americans increases - that income is spent on innovative new things - the economy benefits - tax revenues increase - we're able to use some of the newfound wealth to pay for new clinics for the needy - everybody wins.

EDIT: Someone left an interesting comment, here's my updated thinking.

I appear to have learned something. 'pubs are blaming malpractice. Dem's are blaming greedy corporations. I'm going to blame nobody, technically I'm blaming the baby boom demographic shift and a newfound ability to make cheap unhealthy food which leads to the counterintuitive rise in lower class obesity.