Is that the only reason? ;)

I think it is a part of it.... as I said before, costs for surgery and procedures are typically based off of medicare so it makes no difference outside costs... medicare doesn't think about malpractice.

but... part of the workup of problems certainly has the issue of defensive medicine in mind.... check for everything because if you miss something you can be sued. This drives up costs.

Likewise, cost of medical malpractice premiums have to be paid somehow and so costs that can be controlled, like the price of an office visit, goes up to offset those costs. I think I had posted in an earlier discussion friends paying in excess of $100,000 a year in malpractice for what is considered "minimal coverage".... malpractice has been going up at a higher rate than anything else...often jumping 50% a year lately with no new claims....

how would you offset a $50,000 increase in office expenses??

doc t.

Raise prices.