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Is the United States the only country whose doctors pay medical liability insurance?

Google doesn't give a clear answer about the issue, and I believe that this would be a good argument for change in the healthcare system. Thanks in advance. Alright, "no" is an extremely easy and likely true answer. But it's obvious that the US premiums for liability insurance have skyrocketed beyond any other nation. If someone could provide examples of another country and relative costs, this would be much appreciated.

Public Comments

1. no. Yes it was a simple answer, it was a simple question. I don't know the relative rates for doctorsin various countries. I think it might be more profitable to look at the legal system differences. Not every country has a system where a lawyer takes half the settlement and they are on TV urging people to sue, not every country has civil suits that are decided by juries. People in other countries are not so ready to sue. A hospital I worked at had only had 2 suits against it in the last 25 years and both of them were by the same employee. Go figure. In some countries hospitals at least are self insured through group policies - they are a co-operative, I think doctors are much the same. It is in everyone's interest to improve practices and reduce rates, and if necessary strip the licenses of incompetents.
2. I highly doubt that other Nations where the Government is backing the health care has many lawsuits for malpractice. It is not only the medical lawsuits that have increased exponentially, it is all lawsuits that have increased dramatically. I mean, look at how many States are suing different companies for different reasons.
3. With a government ran health care system it would be difficult to sue anyone if anything went wrong.
4. I have heard that in other countries when a medical error occurs, those who are responsible accept responsibility and settle with the injured party immediately. It is a much more humane system. In a country where medical costs and disability pension are automatically paid, a person doesn't have to sue to recover these costs. `
5. No...but how could it be "obvious that the US premiums for liability insurance have skyrocketed beyond any other nation" if you don't even know that they paid them in other countries in the first place? Dee dee dee....
6. I expect most countries require medical liability insurance. Canada certainly does but it's much less expensive than in the US for several reasons (see link). One of the main ones being limits on payouts (unlike the US). Since the cost of liability insurance is driving doctors out of practice something will have to be done in the US ... but given the litigious nature of the US and general unwillingness to accept personal responsibility for anything (e.g. cases like the person who sued a restaurant (and won) because they burnt themselves by spilling spilling their hot coffee, or the burglar who sued the owner of a building (and won) when he fell through a skylight while trying to rob the place) ... good luck.
7. No. In the UK for example, doctors need insurance.