Welcome to Econ Talk, coming to you from the Library of Economics and Liberty.

I'm your host, Russ Roberts of George Mason University.

We'd love to hear from you if you have any comments or feedback for us here at Econ Talk.

Please send me an email at Roberts, our OBE RTS, Roberts at GMU.edu.

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My guest today is Alex Taberock, my colleague here at George Mason University,

who blogs brilliantly at marginalrevolution.com.

We're going to talk about the economics of medicine.

Alex, good to have you on Econ Talk.

Thanks, Russ. Good to be here.

Well, you've done a lot of reading and writing and thinking about the economics of medicine,

and particularly the challenges of being a doctor in today's world, which involves malpractice.

And the risk of a lawsuit that alleges malpractice.

Could you tell me a little bit, and our listeners about the environment today for a doctor worried about malpractice and lawsuit?

Well, I think the American Medical Association, I think, is now saying that medical liability reform is their top priority.

Because higher insurance premiums, insurance premiums that have been going up dramatically,

have been causing some doctors to retire early,

to reduce the scope of their practice, to practice more defensive medicine,

even to move to another state.

So the AMA says that rapidly increasing medical liability insurance premium

caused by escalating jury awards are seriously threatening patient access to care.

And you think that's true?

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