Why do libs say nothing about tort reform, if they claim to care about health care cost?

[fiacre68]

I totally agree. Even though states that already have tort reform laws on the books don't have lower medical costs than states that don't; it's still important to protect the insurance companies from the whiners who say "In this country, people shouldn't be dying of preventable and treatable conditions! Waah!", "What do you mean it's a pre-existing condition? Waah!", and "If I don't get treatment I will die!" Well, boo hoo.

[sylvester37]

I myself am not necessarily against capping punitive damages. However tort reform has occurred in other areas of this country without discernible difference. Bankruptcy laws have been changed to overwhelmingly favor the debtor, has that really benefited us as consumers?
The role of business in a capitalist society is not have profit. It is to maximize profit. And with the cost of consumer items going up how have we the consumer seen the benefits of tort reform already?

[fychan97]

Nothing will be done about this because our elected leaders are mostly lawyers themselves. Heck, Edwards made his career off of medical malpractice.

I was wondering if all the talking heads had forgotten this topic too. Since it has seemed to be missing from all discussions. Capping lawsuit awards seems appropriate cost cutting measure.

In my experience, the physicians that get sued are not the ones that did anything wrong. The horrible physicians seem to never have litigation brought against them.

[vruyk]

Point of order on #2 the take of trail lawyers is >70% normally.

Edwards made his money but doing just that.

Those who think the victim wins are wrong it is the lawyers who take the lion share of that money not the victim.

That is something the left keep blowing over.

WI try to limit the take to 70% but it was the trail lawyers who fought it to the point the bill die.

[charlot22]

Republicans want to cap the amount a corporation can be liable for when they have done wrong
BAD NEWS for consumers----i.e. Ford pinto

the term reasonable to Republicans is NONE
just like the answer to what kind of health care reform do they really want---NONE

Tort reform is just another DEREGULATION that the greedy corporations want.

And we have all seen what Republican Deregulation has done to the average American !!
as we all know the billionaires haven't been substantially hurt at all in this recession caused by their greed and their parties pushing of McCain and other Republicans to deregulate everything in the name of profit



Years of conservative agitation about trial lawyers have led the public to believe that the courts are clogged with “frivolous lawsuits.” But that belief is unlikely to withstand a national debate, because the truth is fundamentally different from what tort reformers pretend. There has indeed been a rise in frivolous claims. But they haven’t been brought by personal injury lawyers; those claims have actually decreased over the last decade. The single factor most clogging the judicial system is frivolous litigation brought by corporations against corporations, which don’t involve independent trial lawyers at all. For example, John Deere went after a competitor for using the same shade of green that Deere paints its tractors. Gillette sued Norelco, claiming its ads for a new electric razor were “false and deceptive” because they depicted non-electric razors as “ferocious creatures.” Nabisco sued Keebler over the latter’s claim that its chocolate-chip cookies contained 25 percent more chips than Nabisco’s. Each of these cases is more representative of the true problem of frivolous litigation. But because they involve a Republican constituency—business—rather than a Democrat constituency like trial lawyers, tort reform advocates don’t mention them.

[alleyne]

It's been said by many reliable sources that lawsuits are only about 5% or less of the insurance company's budgets, so while reasonable limits seem in order, it probably would not affect anybody's bill much, despite the companies themselves, who want to wring every nickle out of the public they can.
But the sensational lawsuits never really go as reported in the media - the McDonalds coffee lady only ended up getting about $400,000, and that was with $250,000 out of pocket medical bills including skin grafts.
She really was badly burned! And McDonalds had in house documents saying make the coffee really HOT so no one will realise how lousy it is until they've driven away a bit.

[lalla3]

Medical malpractice lawsuits are not a significant cost of health care. We need to focus on reality and not on special interests. The primary concern of our health care system should be to keep us healthy, not to maximize profit potential.

[lamarr3]

Because less than 1% of health care spending involves law suits and legal settlements. Because there are already laws in place which call for judges to bring contempt of court charges against attorneys who file frivolous suits; we don't need new laws, we need to insist that judges enforce the laws we already have. Because this should be addressed in ways that do not restrict the right of citizens to seek monetary compensation for injuries due to negligence or preventable error, in ways that do not prevent juries and judges from adding punitive damages sizable enough to be a deterrent to future negligence or error.

[patwin87]

@ Don B...This is one of the few areas where both sides can actually work together for a 'reasonable' solution and all you're doing is throwing rocks.

There's plenty of blame to go around.

TORT Reform...Accessibility to insurance across state lines...and even this idea of Co-Ops (if we can keep the federal government from screwing it up) are all things that could benefit all Americans.

We don't have to behave like children just because the politicians do.

[stanciyf]

TORT Reform is only a “talking point” by the Republican Party. If you’ll notice, the Republican Party had full control of Congress, Senate as well as the White House between the years of 2000 and 2006 and did nothing about TORT Reform – Your point might be taken a little more serous if when in power, Republican’s acted upon what they “talk about” during elections or during a heated debate such as Healthcare Reform, but they haven’t and won’t.

If you’ll notice, the vast majority of elected officials are Lawyers (on both sides), they are not going to bite the hand that’s feeding them – ever.