Health Care Reform Bill is a “Trial Lawyer’s Dream”
The health care reform bill is a “trial lawyer’s dream” according to Insurance Information Institute (I.I.I.) President Robert P. Hartwig speaking at the National Underwriter/Ernst & Young 21st Annual Executive Conference for the Property and Casualty Industry.
The Congressional Budget Office estimates that $54 billion can be saved by implementing medical malpractice tort reform, but the authors of the bill left out any such reforms. This figure does not include the huge cost of practicing defensive medicine generated by the demands of the current tort system.
Trial lawyers are protected by Section 2531 of H.R. 3962, the Affordable Health Care for America Act. This empowers the Secretary of Health and Human Services to pay states that enact laws to hold down the cost of medical malpractice but “a state is not eligible for the incentive payments if that state puts a law on the books that limits attorneys’ fees or imposes caps on damages.”
The impact of tort reform can be dramatic. After Texas capped pain and suffering damages at $750,000 in 2003, the number of malpractice lawsuits dropped abruptly. Lawsuits in Harris County (Houston and environs) plunged by 50 percent. In California, pain and suffering damages cannot exceed $250,000. Attorneys may collect no more than 15 percent of malpractice awards over $600,000.
Mr. Hartwig stated that the authors of the current health care legislation are insuring that “this is an era of no tort reform.”
Link: http://www.property-casualty.com/News/2009/11/Pages/Health-Care-Bill-Trial-Lawyers-Dream-Says-Hartwig.aspx
