One of the reasons our health care costs are higher than the rest of the industrial countries is the high cost of malpractice insurance. My family doctor runs a practice with two doctors and four FNPs. His annual premium for malpractice insurance is in excess of $100,000 per year. And he is only family medicine. Imagine what it is for a specialist or a surgeon. It takes a lot of office visits to generate $100K to cover this cost.
If we want meaningful health reform, start with tort reform. I know this will never happen because of the lawyer's lobby, but it sure would help with the costs.