Tort Reform by Catherine Rost

Tort reform is a necessity in our society if we ever intend to reform healthcare.It is a large component of the cost of our healthcare.  We spend millions of dollars annually conducting medical tests for “defensive” purposes instead of diagnostic purposes.In fact, it has been shown in states such as Texas, which has caps on malpractice awards, to have saved those state taxpayers millions of dollars.Why is tort reform not on the table?  It has never been shown that tort reform would in any way affect the quality of our healthcare.  It has, however, been shown to save the taxpayers millions of dollars.Frivolous lawsuits have been known to cost the American taxpayers upwards of 260 billion dollars annually. So why is tort reform not an integral part of the current health care reform?Perhaps it is because the Trial Lawyers Lobby is one of the most powerful liberal lobbyist groups in Washington D.C.  Once again, I am discouraged by the system.  It really is not about what is in the best interest of the people; it is about who donates the largest amount of money to the cronies in our government.We hear daily about the outrageous salaries of CEO’s of large companies or about the profits of insurance companies.  When was the last time the media discussed the huge profits that lawyers claim after “winning” a lawsuit?  Most lawyers take more than 50% of the awards given to the victim or clamant in a malpractice case.  Where is the social outrage?If tort reform is not made a major part of the current health care reform, then we have not propelled forward with this issue or in any way pursued truth in cost savings of health care to the American taxpayers.

This entry was posted on 9. November 2009 at 21:05 and is filed under Social Problems, Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response or trackback from your own site.