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Polls
Return To All Poll Data
Poll data for Top Ten Health Care Findings (August 2004)
Malpractice costs influence on access to doctors


One in four Pennsylvanians says rising malpractice insurance costs have forced their family to change doctors in the past year.

  % saying
NET – Family had to change doctor because of increasing malpractice costs 26.0
Your doctor moved his or her practice outside of Pennsylvania 16.0
Your doctor stopped providing certain medical services or refused to treat some serious illnesses 10.0
Your doctor stopped practicing medicine altogether 9.0
Your doctor moved his or her practice to a different part of Pennsylvania 8.0
Source: Fall 2004 IssuesPA/Pew Poll: General Election and Health Care

Twenty-six percent of state residents say someone in their family has had to change doctors in the past year because of the rising cost of malpractice insurance. This includes 16% who said they had find a new doctor because their previous doctor moving his or her practice out of state because of increasing malpractice insurance costs. Smaller numbers had to change doctors because their doctor stopped providing certain services (10%), stopped practicing altogether (9%) or moved to another part of the state (8%) in response to increasing malpractice insurance costs. About one in three residents of Southeastern PA (31%) and one in four residents of Southwestern PA (26%) say their family has had to switch doctors because of rising malpractice insurance costs. Fewer people – about one in five (19%) in the South Central region say they have had this same experience.



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