Unneeded Medical Tests Raise Cost

The United States could save $20 billion to $30 billion annually by cutting out medical tests and other procedures that doctors carry out solely to avoid malpractice lawsuits, the top U.S. health official said Sunday.

“We know that it is in the billions, 20 or 30 billion dollars at the minimum and probably a lot more,” Secretary of Health and Human Services Louis W. Sullivan said.

He told ABC television’s “This Week with David Brinkley” that President Bush will address the problem when he unveils his proposals for health care reform Thursday.

“These procedures contribute nothing to medical care or quality care, but they burden the system with unnecessary costs and inconvenience to the patient,” Sullivan said.

He shied away from providing much in the way of details of Bush’s plan, saying that would have to wait until Thursday.

Bush last week in his State of the Union Address said that his program would continue to rely on the private insurance system and would use tax credits to deliver medical care to people who don’t have insurance and can’t afford it.

Democrats in Congress have said they want some type of government-funded insurance plan for those who are uninsured, but the Bush Administration has attacked that as too costly.

“We have enough dollars in the health care system,” Sullivan said. “We’re not spending them in the wisest way. The President’s plan will redirect those dollars to spend them more effectively.”