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Archives
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Democrats look for deal as Sen. debate begins Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, PA - Nov 30, 2009 ...Democrats also expect a series of amendments on hot buttons such as abortion, medical malpractice and immigration... Senate debate on health bill set to begin Monday Wall Street Journal, NY - Nov 29, 2009 ...Republicans are also likely to offer at least one amendment limiting medical malpractice lawsuits... Rendell's legacy largely in place after 7 years Philadelphia Inquirer, PA (Associated Press) - Nov 28, 2009 ...His Web site also reminds people that the minimum wage was increased and doctors got help with malpractice insurance costs... Medical malpractice news
Editorial: New Yorkers pay a high price for liability litigation The Post-Standard, Syracuse, NY - Nov 27, 2009 ...46 states have enacted some kind of tort reform, 36 of them imposing a cap on pain and suffering awards. PRI reports that after caps were put in place in Texas, physicians’ premiums dropped sharply and doctors began returning to underserved areas... Opinion - Charles Krauthammer: A sickly health care debate: Do this the right way - one reform at a time New York Daily News, NY - Nov 27, 2009 ...In the 4,000-plus pages of the two bills, there is no tort reform. Indeed, the House bill actually penalizes states that dare "limit attorneys' fees or impose caps on damages." Why?... Opinion - Dr. Richard Feldman: True health care reform requires a multi-pronged attack South Bend Tribune, IN - Nov 26, 2009 ...Although relatively less significant, tort reform is necessary to reduce the extremely high malpractice premiums and the added costs from health care providers practicing "defensive medicine."... Medical malpractice news
Claims against Phila. VA up to $58 million Philadelphia Inquirer, PA - Nov 25, 2009 ...Twenty-seven men who received prostate brachytherapy at the Philadelphia VA and four veterans' wives are seeking a total $58 million in damages for radiation errors at the hospital from 2002 to 2008, according to documents obtained by The Inquirer through a Freedom of Information Act request... House health care bill expands state AGs' powers LegalNewsline - Nov 24, 2009 ...Sections of the $ 1 trillion Affordable Health Care for America Act would be a boon to the nation's trial lawyers, a key Democratic constituency, allowing their ranks to sue businesses through state attorneys general over alleged medical-related violations... Docs case for tort reform gets harder to make National Public Radio - Nov 24, 2009 ...But malpractice insurance costs are actually stabilizing in most parts of the country, even as Congress lurches along on legislation some say should do more to address it... Medical malpractice news
Tough choices on health care Chicago Tribune, IL - Nov 24, 2009 ...The Senate bill does not change medical malpractice law, though it encourages states to explore alternatives to civil litigation... States might examine tort reform Quad-City Times, Davenport, IA - Nov 23, 2009 Even though a national change to medical malpractice law is not likely to happen at this point in the health-care debate, some states might soon experiment with tort reform... Medical malpractice news
Key speech on medical errors Times Union, Albany, NY - Nov 23, 2009 ...Braley, 52, a trial lawyer who specializes in malpractice, said he had two minutes to prepare his speech. As he spoke, he was taunted by Republicans shouting "trial lawyer."... Top priorities for health care Wall Street Journal, NY - Nov 23, 2009 ...Task-force members came up with priorities of their own, including holding patients accountable for their own behavior, in the face of an alarming rise in obesity, coupled with high smoking rates. And dealing with medical-malpractice costs and tort reform was once again on the CEO agenda... Liability premiums stay stable, but insurers warn this might not last American Medical News, Chicago, IL - Nov 23, 2009 ...An overall dip in the frequency of lawsuit filings -- 30% or more in some parts of the country -- remains the driving force behind the premium moderation, said Lawrence E. Smarr, president and CEO of the Physician Insurers Assn. of America... Bill needs bipartisan cost-cutting strategies The Spokesman Review, Spokane, WA - Nov 22, 2009 ...If either side gets what it wants, costs in this area won’t be contained. Texas implemented a $250,000 cap on medical malpractice awards, which is the holy grail of tort reformers... Opinion - Amy H. Handlin: Reduce medical liability costs before more specialists flee N.J. Gloucester County Times, NJ - Nov 22, 2009 ...Even as debate about national health care reform rages across the country, we in New Jersey must confront a homegrown crisis: Our state is losing doctors at an alarming rate... Opinion - Jennifer S. Bard: There's no proof tort reform reduces health costs Houston Chronicle, TX - Nov 21, 2009 ...There is no evidence to suggest that limiting the rights of individuals to bring lawsuits will either lower the cost of health care or increase its quality. In fact, were this true, Texas would have the cheapest and best health care in the nation... Medical malpractice news
Sanders, Leahy praise health care bill The Burlington Free Press, VT - Nov 20, 2009 ...Leahy said he was mostly pleased with the bill but will seek to add an amendment to end the antitrust exemption for health and medical malpractice carriers. “Momentum continues to build for including this repeal in the final plan,” Leahy said... Opinion - John Agnew: What it is like to be sued for malpractice - a harsh experience The News-Press, Fort Myers, FL - Nov 20, 2009 ...The medical associations will suggest that all suits are frivolous, while the trial lawyers will suggest that all are serious and warranted. As usual, the truth lies somewhere in between... Senate health bill: Antitrust lurks in the wings National Underwriter, Hoboken, NJ - Nov 19, 2009 ...“The attempt to set aside McCarran-Ferguson protections continues to be a ruse for distracting attention from much needed tort reform, which is not addressed in a meaningful way by the Senate bill,” Smarr says... Industry groups: The Reid bill won't work National Underwriter, Hoboken, NJ - Nov 19, 2009 ...The bill includes many restrictions on insurers, such as a provision that would make all health insurance rate increases subject to state review, but it does not include any kind of medical malpractice reform, NAIFA says... Medical malpractice news
AP Poll: Support for curbs on malpractice lawsuits The Associated Press - Nov 19, 2009 ...The AP poll found that 54 percent of Americans favor making it harder to sue doctors and hospitals for mistakes taking care of patients, while 32 percent are opposed. The rest are undecided or don't know... Medical malpractice news
Editorial: Cost of health care is world's problem Observer-Reporter, Washington, PA - Oct 18, 2009 ...Certainly, market forces are at work, and in this country there are other factors, such as our legal system that forces doctors to pay exorbitant premiums for malpractice insurance.... NY suer system stinks New York Post, New York, NY - Oct 18, 2009 ...The report particularly singled out New York's highest-in-the-nation medical-malpractice costs for doctors and hospitals, and charged that litigation contributed to the closure of the maternity ward at Long Island College Hospital... Opinion - Dan Walters: California's 1988 insurance battle could see 2010 reprise Sacramento Bee, CA - Oct 18, 2009 ...It was a big battle in the decades-long "tort war" over rules governing who can sue whom for personal injuries, including auto accidents – a war fought in the Legislature, on the ballot and in the courts and whose financial stakes are untold billions of dollars... Opinion - Anthony Tarricone: Blaming lawyers a bogeyman to stop health reform CNN - Oct 18, 2009 ...Instead of saving money for consumers, tort reform has served as a sop to the insurance industry, allowing them to make record profits off the backs of doctors and patients... CEOs seek to spur jobs through small business, education Wall Street Journal, NY - Oct 17, 2009 ...CEOs also highlighted reforming medical malpractice rules, which critics have long said inflate health-care costs by pushing doctors to play defense and over-treat patients. While President Barack Obama has touched on the idea of reforming such rules, the executives' plan indicates they want something more aggressive because they seek a limit to awards... Medical malpractice news
Editorial: Hidden in the bill The Free Lance-Star, Fredericksburg, VA - Nov 17, 2009 ...The kicker? These incentives are not available to any state with a cap on damages or attorneys' fees in tort claims. Virginia, you're out... Opinion - Kerry Picket: The AMA still does not get it The Washington Times, DC - Nov 17, 2009 ...The AMA did adopt a resolution in Houston last week addressing the much needed Medical Liability Reform for doctors, but this happened eight years after the AMA helped push the misnamed Patients' Bill of Rights legislation through Congress... Opinion - Mark Moretti: Health care bill's solutions represent opposite of founding fathers' vision Newark Advocate, Newark, OH - Nov 17, 2009 ...Tort reform has been begged for by doctors who pay costly malpractice premiums and sometimes order tests to protect themselves from lawsuits as much as for patients... Tort reform: Does saying "I'm sorry" help? Medscape Today - Nov 16, 2009 ...Yet physicians are reluctant to apologize after adverse events because their words can be used in malpractice litigation as admissions of fault. Apology, from the physician's point of view, is a slippery slope... Medical malpractice news
Maryland high court to consider expert witness rule American Medical News, Chicago, IL - Nov 16, 2009 Maryland's highest court will decide the scope of a state law setting minimum requirements for expert witnesses in medical liability cases -- a rule physicians say has been key to keeping unfounded lawsuits from clogging the courts... Opinion - John C. LeVine: Real reform in nine necessary steps Washington Square News, New York University, New York, NY - Nov 16, 2009 ...Implement standards for tort law and medical malpractice. The issue here isn't necessarily hard caps but rather clear guidance on damages... Pennsylvanians show a profusion of confusion on health care reform The Morning Call, Allentown, PA - Nov 15, 2009 ...There also was a lot of support for limiting medical malpractice awards, with 70 percent saying they'd like to see such limits included in the final legislation... New York Bar Assn. president decries tort reform proposals LegalNewsline, Chicago, IL - Nov 15, 2009 ...Association President Michael Getnick, in a letter to his state's two senators, said how medical malpractice cases are handled should be left up to the individual states... Opinion - Arnold Garcia Jr.: A veteran's take on health care battle Austin American-Statesman, TX - Nov 15, 2009 ...medical malpractice insurance rates driven by high jury awards also contribute to rising health care costs. Texas adopted a medical malpractice cap in 2003. How well it has worked depends on who you ask... GOP: Health bill doesn't rein in lawsuits United Press International - Nov 14, 2009 ..."We could start lowering costs by reining in lawsuits in America," Kirk said. "We are the most litigious country on Earth. Lawsuit reforms can save billions in healthcare costs alone."... Opinion - Steve and Cokie Roberts: The buck stops nowhere The Jamestown Sun, Jamestown, ND - Nov 14, 2009 ...Trial lawyers, who pour millions into Democratic coffers, are adamantly opposing revision of the medical-malpractice system, another money-saving option... Medical malpractice news
Congressman speaks about dairy farmers, health care reform Williamsport Sun-Gazette, PA - Nov 13, 2009 ...Thompson, a health care administrator for 28 years, said the bill is a "hazard" to U.S. citizens. "We need to increase competition by allowing health care bidding across state lines and allowing groups to form together to bid for lower health care, and lowering waste in medical malpractice," he said... Lungren: House health bill violates Lemon Law LegalNewsline, Chicago, IL - Nov 13, 2009 ...Instead, the bill approved by the House would allow the U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services to give grants to states that overhaul their medical malpractice systems so long as their reforms don't in any way limit attorneys' fees or impose caps on damages... Opinion - John Foley: Getting serious about health care reform Chicago Tribune, IL - Nov 13, 2009 ...Compensation for pain and suffering needs to be made obsolete. Attorneys' fees for medical malpractice need to be paid on a sliding scale so the award is directed at the victim of malpractice and not at the legal profession... Editorial: Health-care bill Evansville Courier & Press, Evansville, IN - Nov 13, 2009 ...Many observers, this newspaper included, believe comprehensive medical malpractice reform would take significant costs out of the system by limiting damages, as many states do, and by limiting insurance that physicians must purchase... Medical malpractice news
Doctors split over legislation Quad-City Times, Davenport, IA - Nov 12, 2009 ...A surgeon thinks competition should be increased among private insurers and steps should be taken to decrease the cost of medical malpractice insurance... Six progressive complaints about House health bill deserve attention The Capital Times, Madison, WI - Nov 12, 2009 ...It does not address interstate portability, as Medicare does. It does not address real medical malpractice insurance reform... Health insurers' antitrust exemption becoming a focus of reform debate The Denver Post, CO - Nov 12, 2009 ...Medical malpractice insurers, which would lose their exemption under the bill, sometimes share financial information much like auto and home insurers, reporting "historical loss data" specific to particular cities to a centralized service bureau... Trial lawyers discount effects of medical malpractice litigation LegalNewsline.com, Chicago, IL - Nov 12, 2009 ...The American Association for Justice, which represents plaintiffs' attorneys, has released a series of Internet videos that seeks to justify malpractice lawsuits against doctors, which critics say is responsible partly for the nation's skyrocketing health care costs... Trial lawyers fight back on medical malpractice CBS News - Nov 12, 2009 ...According to Smith, the group has only bought Washington-area online ads thus far, "though a source close to the group says they're ready to go on air if fluid talks turn toward tort reform." Editorial: ...And a buried tort bomb Wall Street Journal, New York, NY - Nov 12, 2009 ...Read on, however, and you come to this nugget: The state only qualifies if its new law "does not limit attorneys' fees or impose caps on damages." ... Editorial: Someone call a doctor Orlando Sentinel, FL - Nov 12, 2009 ...The Congressional Budget Office has said curbing high lawsuit awards and the defensive medicine that doctors practice to avoid them could save $54 billion over 10 years. Senate Democrats mustn't ignore this potential savings, even if it means angering their trial lawyer overlords... Medical malpractice news
As reform takes shape, dread, hope heighten The Arizona Republic, Phoenix, AZ - Nov 11, 2009 ...Many doctors complain the House bill doesn't offer much in medical-malpractice reform. Nor does the bill address deep Medicare cuts to physicians starting next year.... Survey: U.S. docs want tort reform PointofLaw.com - Nov 10, 2009 ...92 percent of American physicians want liability relief included in the health bill, and 85 percent "said the threat of medical malpractice litigation is their primary hindrance to practicing medicine as they see fit." ... Insurance industry sees potential for gains, losses Charleston Regional Business Journal, SC - Nov 10, 2009 ...Congress could reduce health care costs by adopting tougher restrictions on medical malpractice lawsuits and encouraging use of electronic medical records, Brown said. Both steps could help physicians avoid unnecessary tests and costs... Medical malpractice news
Who voted for what and why The Times Herald, Norristown, PA - Nov 10, 2009 ...Dent criticized the legislation for failing to include “medical liability reform,” which he said will “protect trial lawyers at the expense of patients.”... Holden lone holdout among Dems in health care vote Morning Call, Allentown, PA - Nov 10, 2009 ...About the only things Dent said he supports in the legislation are boosting wellness and prevention efforts and increasing technology use to improve efficiency. He backs a Republican plan that would attempt to lower costs by allowing employers to purchase insurance across state lines, form collectives to negotiate better insurance prices and limit the size of malpractice awards... 'Fuzzy math' could drive health care bill's cost higher Washington Times, DC - Nov 10, 2009 ...The list of projects ranges from the "No child left unimmunized against influenza" project to 10 programs in the Indian health care system. There are also programs to encourage people to go into nursing and to spur states to restrain medical-malpractice lawsuits... Politics aside, doctors universally fed up with insurers Philadelphia Inquirer, PA - Nov 10, 2009 ...The AMA itself came out in support of the House bill. But yesterday, some prominent AMA members were pushing to rescind that backing because the bill doesn't address matters such as malpractice reform. In any case, doctors' disenchantment with the insurance industry seems to transcend all other views... Republicans hope for influence in Senate health debate Miami Herald, FL - Nov 9, 2009 ...Moderate Republicans also are expected to seek more incentives for disease prevention, such as provisions to encourage people to lose weight or stop smoking. They also expect to make a big push to revamp medical malpractice policies, a longtime favorite issue for Republicans... Resolution to rescind AMA endorsement of House health care bill voted down Washington Times, DC - Nov 9, 2009 ...The group which drew up the resolution to withdraw the AMA's endorsement managed to gather the two-thirds votes necessasry to schedule the voting on the withrawal resolution today. Many doctors were upset the AMA had endorsed health care legislation that lacked medical malpractice reform and included cuts to Medicare physician reimbursements. 10 insurance trade groups hit health bill wording on FTC role National Underwriter, Hoboken, NJ - Nov 9, 2009 ...Another provision of the legislation would repeal the antitrust protection accorded health and medical malpractice insurers by the McCarran-Ferguson Act... Insurance groups object to health care proposals Business Insurance, New York, NY - Nov 9, 2009 ...It is also not served by limiting the protections the McCarran-Ferguson Act provides for pro-competitive insurance activities that are subject to scrutiny by state insurance regulators, especially those that facilitate greater market access by medical malpractice insurers.” ... Ohio medical malpractice premiums keep dropping FierceHealthcare.com - Nov 9, 2009 Medical malpractice premiums in Ohio have continued to fall for the fourth straight year, a trend which both state regulators and insurers attribute to a mix of policy changes, liability limits and safety initiatives... Court halts Illinois suspension of medical liability insurer PLICA Claims Journal, San Diego, CA - Nov 9, 2009 ...A Chancery Court Judge in Cook County Illinois has halted a state insurance department order that prohibited a medical liability insurer from writing new business in the state... Medical malpractice news
Health bill faces Senate heat Wall Street Journal, NY - Nov 9, 2009 ...Republicans described the bill as an unprecedented power grab that would raise -- not lower -- medical costs and further cripple the economy. They lambasted the legislation for creating new taxes and failing to curb frivolous medical-malpractice lawsuits... What the House bill would mean for various groups Wall Street Journal, NY - Nov 9, 2009 ...The bill's provisions on medical liability are far short of what most doctors want. It creates new incentive payments to states that have alternative laws aimed at cracking down on frivolous malpractice lawsuits... Texas reforms highlighted in Lawsuit Awareness Week American Medical News, Chicago, IL - Nov 9, 2009 ...Gov. Rick Perry said in a statement that the changes helped curb the kind of excessive litigation that drove up the cost of physicians' liability insurance premiums and made it difficult for doctors to continue practicing... Editorial: Healthcare's hurdles Los Angeles Times, CA - Nov 9, 2009 ...The GOP proposal is devoted mainly to curbing the growth in healthcare spending by reducing state mandates on insurance providers, restricting damages in medical malpractice cases and rewarding states for keeping rates down... Editorial: Health-care reform, GOP-style Washington Post, DC - Nov 9, 2009 ...Finally, the proposal would change the medical malpractice system -- a good idea, but done in the wrong way... Medical malpractice reform omitted from House health care bill PointofLaw.com - Nov 8, 2009 ...The lack of medical liability reform in the House health care bill and the political power of trial lawyers were two points argued late Saturday when Republicans moved to recommit the health care bill, H.R. 3962, to committee... Editorial: Miss. made a plan, will nation follow? The Natchez Democrat, MS - Oct 8, 2009 ...In 2004, the work that began here led to sweeping reforms of the state’s tort laws. To those local physicians who lobbied hard to change the state’s legal reputation, we’re forever grateful... National reform needed, local doctor says The Natchez Democrat, MS - Oct 8, 2009 ...Though the number of medical malpractice claims has dropped by 91 percent from its peak, and the state’s largest medical liability insurer has dropped its premiums by 42 percent... Another TARP: Trial Attorney Relief Program Southeast Texas Record, Beaumont, TX - Nov 7, 2009 ...Despite abundant evidence that frivolous medical malpractice suits contribute mightily to the rising cost of health care, the bill touted by U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi does nothing to deter such suits. In fact, it seeks to insulate them from reform... Medical malpractice news
Details on health care bills in House, Senate Associated Press - Nov 6, 2009 ...HOW IT'S PAID FOR: No new taxes, but Republicans would get savings by capping medical liability awards, stepping up efforts to fight Medicare and Medicaid fraud... Employers cope with insurance shifts The Gazette, Gaithersburg, MD - Nov 6, 2009 ...He said he has yet to see much in the federal legislation to cut costs, such as medical malpractice reform. "In any case, something has to be done," Rogers said. Editorial: GOP offers cheaper approach to health reform The Detriot News, MI - Nov 6, 2009 ...It uses market-based principles and does not include government subsidies or a public option. But it would trim costs through strict limits on medical malpractice lawsuits... Editorial: Chloroform for tort reform Washington Times, DC - Nov 6, 2009 ...In the weak guise of offering incentives to states to create "alternative medical liability" laws, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's big-government health plan actually discourages the most widely used and effective means of reining in lawsuit abuse... AMA uneasy in support of ObamaCare Forbes.com - Nov 5, 2009 ...Left open were two major issues: reforming the medical malpractice system and changing the formula that Medicare uses to determine how much to reimburse physicians... AMA supports House health care bill despite dissent Houston Chronicle, TX - Nov 5, 2009 ...“I continue to be perplexed at the short-term focus of the AMA on this issue — over which they are willing to swallow hook, line and sinker the rest of the Pelosi bill,” Cornyn said. “The Pelosi bill not only fails to include common-sense medical liability reform for physicians, but it includes a new government program that will have all the same problems we've seen with Medicare.”... Texas AARP joins national group in endorsing healthcare bill Star-Telegram, Fort Worth, TX - Nov 5, 2009 ..Officials with the Texas group said Thursday that it believes that the bill has some important provisions but that it finds some terms unacceptable. It has pushed, for example, for inclusion of a federal cap on medical malpractice cases, much like the one in Texas, and has sought a provision that would allow physicians to own medical facilities... Health reform bill would call for insurer scrutiny, says AIA National Underwriter, Hoboken, NJ - Nov 5, 2009 Legislation to repeal the antitrust exemption for health and medical malpractice insurers has been modified to include scrutiny of those insurers practices, an insurance trade group said... AIA: New health bill antitrust provision may be a trap National Underwriter, Hoboken, NJ - Nov 5, 2009 ...Unlike the earlier versions of the antitrust repeal language, the latest version does not introduce new, undefined statutory terms such as “price-fixing” or “market allocation,” Rethmeier says. But the latest provision would let federal antitrust laws broadly apply to the “business of health insurance or the business of medical malpractice insurance,” Rethmeier says... Medical malpractice news
CBO: Prepublican health plan would reduce premiums, tri deficit Washington Examiner, DC - Nov 5, 2009 ...The Republican plan does not call for a government insurance plan but rather attempts to reform the system by creating high-risk insurance pools, allowing people to purchase health insurance policies across state lines and instituting medical malpractice reforms... Budget monitor says G.O.P. bill leaves many uninsured New York Times, NY - Nov 5, 2009 ...But Republicans will certainly find aspects of the cost analysis to brag about. The budget office predicted savings for the federal government of $41 billion over 10 years as a result of provisions to limit costs related to medical malpractice lawsuits... GOP offers choice on health care Chicago Tribune, IL - Nov 5, 2009 ...They are proposing to do so through market-oriented measures that would limit medical malpractice lawsuits, expand the use of tax-sheltered medical savings accounts... GOP unveils 219-page health proposal National Underwriter, Hoboken, NJ - Nov 4, 2009 ...Section 305 would allow medical malpractice punitive damages, but only if there was “clear and convincing evidence that [a provider] acted with malicious intent to injure the claimant, or that such person deliberately failed to avoid unnecessary injury that such person knew the claimant was substantially certain to suffer.”... Health care dispute: Costs of defensive medicine The Associated Press - Nov 4, 2009 ...Doctors say the hidden costs of the tests along with malpractice insurance and lawsuit awards are major drivers behind the soaring cost of care. Trial attorneys say bad medicine, not lawsuits, is to blame... Opinion - Morton Kondracke: Medical malpractice...a third way Courier-Express, DuBois, PA - Nov 4, 2009 There's an important task that congressional moderates can perform on health-care reform besides fighting the public insurance option and containing costs: Find a middle ground on medical malpractice... Medical malpractice news
Some experts worry that cost controls in health-care reform are too cautious Washington Post, DC - Nov 4, 2009 ...None of the bills addresses medical liability, even though the Congressional Budget Office has concluded that tort reform could save $54 billion over the next decade... Reid: Senate not bound by Obama's health deadline Washington Times, DC - Nov 4, 2009 ...The Republicans' plans include allowing insurance companies to sell across state lines; permitting groups of people or businesses to pool insurance purchases; requiring states to subsidize high-risk-insurance pools; and limiting medical malpractice awards. They plan to release the bill later this week, possibly as soon as Wednesday... Can tort reform help save health care? Naperville Sun, IL - Nov 4, 2009 ...Although Illinois is one of a handful of states that have set a cap on malpractice awards, the Naperville resident is among those who see a limit on settlements for medical wrongdoing as a key element in the overhaul of the nation's health care system... State: Revenues off $38m so far Union Leader, Manchester, NH - Nov 4, 2009 ...He also criticized the state's attempt to use $110 million in Joint Underwriting Association medical malpractice funds to balance the budget, a move now the subject of a state Supreme Court appeal... G.O.P. counters with a health plan of its own New York Times, NY - Nov 3, 2009 House Republicans have come up with an answer to Speaker Nancy Pelosi, drafting an alternative health care bill that would reward states for reducing the number of uninsured, limit damages in medical malpractice lawsuits... Graham sponsors 'loser pays' medical malpractice bill Charleston Regional Business Journal, SC - Nov 3, 2009 ...The so-called “loser pays” bill, which Graham and U.S. Sen. Saxby Chambliss, R-Ga., sponsored, is meant to reduce the number of frivolous medical malpractice lawsuits, the senators said... Medical malpractice news
2 tough health care issues remain in the house The Associated Press - Nov 3, 2009 ...Boehner also said Republicans would propose limits on medical malpractice lawsuits in what he said was an attempt to reduce the cost of coverage... Opinion - Ingo Angermeier: 'Loser Pays' can fix broken health-care system The Greenville News, Greenville, SC - Nov 3, 2009 ...according a recent report in Healthcare Ledger, defensive medicine is costing the American health-care system between $80 and $100 billion each year, depending on how you slice and dice the numbers... Opinion - James R. Copland: Tort-Bar treat New York Post, New York, NY - Nov 3, 3009 ...it's hard not to conclude that Pelosi's liability-reform provisions are little more than window dressing -- more designed to protect trial-lawyer profits than to reduce lawsuit abuse... Opinion - Shirley Svorny: Increasing risk, hurting patients Forbes.com - Nov 2, 2009 ...The advantage of using managed-care arrangements over caps is that this would allow medical professional liability insurance underwriters to continue to provide both oversight and penalties for negligence and substandard care... Medical malpractice news
GOP set to propose its own health bill Wall Street Journal, NY - Nov 2, 2009 ...It would, among other things, propose new limits on medical malpractice lawsuits and make it easier for individuals and small businesses to pool resources to purchase insurance... Boehner: GOP health care plan to target lawsuit abuse LegalNewsLine, Chicago, IL - Nov 2, 2009 House Republicans plan to offer an alternative to the Democrats' proposal for a national health care overhaul that contains tort reform, House Minority Leader John Boehner said Sunday... Health reform bills light on medical liability reform American Medical News, Chicago, IL - Nov 2, 2009 ...A recent report by the Congressional Budget Office may give liability reform supporters a needed boost, but opposition from congressional Democrats and trial lawyers continues to intensify... Litigation stress: Being sued is personal as well as professional American Medical News, Chicago, IL - Nov 2, 2009 ...increasingly liability insurers and professional medical societies are instituting programs designed to help physicians deal with the emotional rigors of litigation stress... Opinion - Roy Shockey: Lawsuit reform is a key to Texas' economic stability Star-Telegram, Fort Worth, TX - Nov 1, 2009 ...Working with Texans for Lawsuit Reform, state legislators passed and Texans approved in 2003 limits on awards in medical malpractice suits, establishment of proportional responsibility and "hold harmless" laws for Good Samaritans who render aid to victims of accident or illness... Opinion - Abhilash Samuel: Lack of tort reform costing Pennsylvania The Philadelphia Bulletin, PA - Nov 1, 2009 As Washington continues debating how to curb health care costs, one area largely ignored is medical malpractice reform. However, ample evidence from states indicates tort reform is central to overhauling the healthcare system... Opinion - William O'Shea: Pennsylvania court race could have critical impact The Philadelphia Bulletin, PA - Nov 1, 2009 ...A recent report by the Pew Charitable Trusts found that Pennsylvania has been especially hard-hit by malpractice insurance problems and that rising legal costs are the greatest factor contributing to their financial burden. As this cycle of rising costs and fleeing physicians continues, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court is expected to be at the center of a debate now national in scope... Medical lawsuits radically declining The Commercial Appeal, Memphis, TN - Nov 1, 2009 ...malpractice cases and payments are on a sharp downward trend locally and nationally. A major reason: For all the reform efforts by Congress, states like Tennessee and Mississippi already have adopted their own laws clamping down on the litigation... Today marks the first day of new Oklahoma laws The Oklahoman, Oklahoma City, OK - Nov 1, 2009 ...Most elements of a comprehensive lawsuit reform measure, agreed to in the last days of this year's legislative session after more than two years of bickering, are now law... Boehner: Dem health reforms 'reckless' UPI - Oct 31, 2009 ...Instead, he said, Republicans will offer "our better solutions" to make healthcare more affordable and accessible, including the creation of state health insurance pools, allowing states to create their own "innovative reforms" and banning "junk" medical malpractice suits. PA congressman gives thumbs down to health care bill WHAG-TV, Hagerstown, MD - Oct 30, 2009 ...He prefers cost-cutting options such as creating competition across state lines and reforming medical malpractice... Rep. Joe Pitts addresses health care reform Central Penn Business Journal, Harrisburg, PA - Oct 30, 2009 ...Medical malpractice (reform) is a very important one. That adds about $125 billion a year to the health care costs... |
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