Medical Insurance Companies and Consumers. If a Michigan citizen with medical insurance is injured by a prescription drug, his or her medical insurer will likely pay for a portion of the resulting medical bills. In the rest of America, medical insurers have the right of subrogation, which entitles them to either sue the pharmaceutical company that caused the injury, or to be reimbursed from any proceeds of a lawsuit filed by the injured person. But because pharmaceutical companies can’t be sued in Michigan, many medical insurance companies have to pay claims – expensive claims – they shouldn’t have to. Medical insurers have no choice but to pass those costs onto consumers and employers in the form of higher premiums. Sadly, spiraling insurance costs are one reason many employers are eliminating or reducing insurance coverage for their employees.

Doctors, Hospitals, and Consumers. Many medical providers won’t treat individuals without health insurance because more often than not, the medical providers don’t get paid for the treatments they rendered. Similarly, Michigan citizens without insurance that are injured by defective drugs may be unable to pay for the treatments they receive. Medical providers don’t just “eat” those unpaid bills. Just as shoplifting forces retailers to raise their prices, so too do unpaid bills force medical providers to raise their prices. These increased prices are passed on to other consumers, and to medical insurers.

Businesses & Consumers. In 2005, a Harvard study found that nearly half of all bankruptcies are filed because of medical bills. It therefore stands to reason that some Michigan citizens have been forced into bankruptcy because of injuries caused by defective drugs like fen-phen. And any credit card company or bank will tell you that consumers bear the cost of bankruptcies, in the form of higher interest rates and higher prices.

Taxpayers: Some Michigan citizens who were injured by defective prescription drugs had the resulting medical bills paid for by Medicaid. And who pays for Medicaid? You and I do, along with every other taxpayer. Because Medicaid is funded at both the state and Federal level, all taxpayers are forced to pay for the medical treatment of Michigan citizens injured by defective drugs. Worse yet, some Michigan citizens may have been so badly injured by a defective drug – such as those who suffered strokes – that they are forced into receiving Social Security disability benefits.