Whenever former trial lawyer, now gum-popping Senator, John Edwards is questioned about the role of lawsuits on ever-climbing medical malpractice insurance rates, he craftily responds that sagging investments by insurance companies have forced them to pass their losses onto doctors.

DB of DB’s Medical Rants begs to differ and links to a study – with numbers and statistics – showing that the rising cost of claims has made it “extremely difficult if not impossible for insurance companies to earn a profit writing medical malpractice insurance.” The report summary suggests premium increases and tort reform, to which DB opines: “But the Democrats and the trial lawyers will continue their sophistry. And, dare I sound redundant, patient care suffers.”

By my light, physicians in America almost universally blame the tort system for their rising insurance costs. Why don’t we listen to them?