Talk Radio News Service: News, Politics, Media

By Benny Martinez - University of New Mexico/Talk Radio News Service

Nearly one quarter of all health care costs are derived from the practice of ‘defensive medicine,’ according to a recent Gallup poll.

In a press briefing Monday, a panel of experts talked with reporters about the impact of such practices on the nation’s economy.

Former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.) defined the practice as “doctors who are doing something that is not driven by medical necessity but is driven by a culture of fear because of the pervasiveness of trial lawyer...you have ads [on TV] that say, let’s find somebody that has money so that we can go sue.”

Gingrich said that the issue of reducing defensive medicine is a platform that must be considered during President Barack Obama’s health care summit this Thursday. According to the Gallup poll, $625 billion is spent annually on defensive medicine.

“If we could simply adopt modest reforms to begin to make the culture of defensive behavior go away, we save 20 percent,” Gingrich said. “That’s 105 billion a year, [and], over the ten years the President is trying to save money for health insurance reform, is over a trillion dollars.”