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House passes health care bill..... and on Tort Reform
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If your neighborhood was plagued by crime you would expect your elected officials to do something about it. If they possess a hint of sensibility they would likely begin by starting a dialog with the beat cops in the area because unlike elected officials, the beat cops are in the neighborhood every day and they can provide real insight that can used to formulate a strategy for success.
Jackson Healthcare decided to do just that in the healthcare reform debate by surveying nearly 2,000 doctors across the country to ask what they wanted to see from a healthcare bill. The results released this weekend exposed a disconnect between our lawmakers and doctors.
92% of the respondents stated that tort reform was the primary piece of legislation that they would like to see any healthcare reform bill. The fear of litigation changes the way doctors practice as the adopt defensive medicine measures which drive up costs as more and more procedures are ordered and leads to less time with your doctor for patients.
But in the nearly 2,000 page health care bill passed in the house, there is no tort reform being proposed. If the ultimate goal of healthcare reform is to reduce healthcare costs then why not enact tort reform legislation that the Congressional Budget Office estimates will save $54 billion over 10 years with a $250,000 cap on pain and suffering suits, $500,000 cap on punitive damages, and a shorter statue of limitation window. And the best part of tort reform is that it brings down costs without a single tax dollar.
So the question is; if tort reform is so effective then why was it not in the house bill? The answer is that a liberal leadership guiding a democratic majority will in turn produce liberal leaning bills. Trial lawyers, who view tort reform in the same regard as Hugo Chavez does capitalism, have successfully spent millions of dollars each year stuffing the campaign chests of democrats to prevent it from becoming a reality.
Republicans do support tort reform and have even proposed it in their own less then well-publicized healthcare bill. But it has no gained traction in the public domain because they continue to use their media face time to point out what is wrong with the democratic bill. The republican talking points of overall cost and public option vs. private are valid arguments but they are fueling the party of "No" stigma bestowed upon them by democrats. Their time would be more wisely spent talking up their proposals that would drive down healthcare costs such opening up state lines and more importantly, tort reform.
The eventual healthcare bill President Obama signs into law will likely be a watered down version of what passed this weekend in house and most people are understandably focused primarily on the fate of the public option in the final product. But unfortunately, the free cost reducing measure of tort reform has already been effectively ruled out for no other reason then politics as usual.
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