Bush Using 'Capital' to Push Malpractice Reform Legislation

Bush is going to fail at his efforts because he is on the dead wrong side of this issue. He has bought into the mis-information from the insurance industry, and is trying to pit the doctors against the lawyers simply to benefit the insurance companies. The facts will come out on this one, and Bush will have wasted political capital.

Here is the article By Christopher Delporte
Medical Device Daily Washington Editor

WASHINGTON - President George Bush set out last week to spend some of the "political capital" that he said he had gained with his second-term election by launching a push for caps on medical malpractice awards.

... medical liability reform would lead to lower overall healthcare costs. ... Bush acknowledged that medical research requires major investments and that "world-class medical technology is expensive." ... The Bush plan would put a limit of $250,000 on non-economic damages, which also means the pain and suffering portions of malpractice awards. There would be no imposed limits on economic losses suffered as the result of "legitimate medical error," the president said.

Think about that for a minute... Bush wants to cap the damages for someone who is truly seriously injured, but that does not stop the "junk" lawsuits. It makes no sense. He gets rid of the good lawsuits by doing that. Not the junk lawsuits.

Even Bush agrees... "I believe a victim of a legitimate medical error should be allowed to collect full economic damages, 100% of the cost of their medical care and recovery, plus economic losses for the rest of their life," he said. "And, when appropriate, injured people should be allowed to collect reasonable non-economic damages. And in the case of truly egregious wrongdoing, patients should be entitled to punitive damages."

The president's proposal would allow malpractice awards to be paid out over time, instead of in a lump sum, in addition to limiting the time in which such suits could be filed after malpractice is claimed.

Well that is nothing new... its called a structured settlement and they are made all of the time. So why the need for legislation. Easy answer. Payback time for big drug companies and insurance companies.

The real problem, according to lawyers who represent malpractice victims, is insurers who look to raise premiums, which affects the healthcare spending for individuals and companies.

Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Massachusetts), ranking mem- ber of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, characterized the president's plan as a "shameful shield" for drug companies and health management organizations (HMOs) and would further divide the country rather than fulfilling the president's promise to unify and heal after a bitter election.

"Whether it's big corporations or members of congress, it's wrong to have one set of rules for those in power and another for everyone else," Kennedy said. "When drug companies or HMOs hurt people, they should be held to account, just like everyone else."

The president knows how to "reach across the aisle and build consensus when he wants to," Kennedy said, adding that now was the time. "If he is serious about responsible reform, then I urge him to put forth a proposal that puts patients first and stop blocking the bipartisan Patients' Bill of Rights," Kennedy added.

Bush said frivolous litigation has raised the total cost of the tort system in the U.S. to more than $230 billion a year, though he did not identify the source of that figure.

I say that is Bush-Sh_t According to a Congressional Budget Office report issued last year, malpractice costs represented less than 2% of overall healthcare spending in 2002, and even a reduction of malpractice costs around 25% would only lower healthcare costs by roughly 0.4%. Those are the facts, George. "The likely effect on health insurance premiums would be comparably small," the report said.

"The president, promoting limits on consumer lawsuits but not business lawsuits, essentially blames consumers for hindering the nation's economic growth," the group said, pointing specifically to the pharmaceutical industry and the recent revelations of harmful side effects produced by the drugs Vioxx and Celebrex.

"It's ridiculous to say consumer lawsuits are to blame for the [country's] economic mess when there's evidence that so many worthy cases can't even get to trial. The president keeps talking about lawsuit abuse, but consumers and workers are the ones being abused," said Sally Greenberg of Consumers Union (Washington/New York), one of the members of the coalition - and an aggressive proponent of mandatory publication of drug study results.

Published: January 10, 2005