Posted on 09/13/2009 6:04:24 PM PDT by DB9
In an interview with Steve Croft this evening, Obama said the following about tort reform:
KROFT: If it came down to getting this plan passed, would you be willing to do more in the area of tort reform and malpractice insurance? Would you be willing to agree to caps, for example, on malpractice judgments?
PRESIDENT OBAMA: What I would be willing to do is to consider any ideas out there that would actually work in terms of reducing costs, improving the quality of patient care. So far the evidence I've seen is that caps will not do that. Obama missed the evidence cited by Governor Palin in a recent Facebook note:
Many states, including my own state of Alaska, have enacted caps on lawsuit awards against health care providers. Texas enacted caps and found that one county’s medical malpractice claims dropped 41 percent, and another study found a “55 percent decline” after reform measures were passed....Limiting lawyer contingency fees, as is done under the Federal Tort Claims Act, is another step. The State of Alaska pioneered the “loser pays” rule in the United States, which deters frivolous civil law suits by making the loser partially pay the winner’s legal bills. Preventing quack doctors from giving “expert” testimony in court against real doctors is another reform. Texas Gov. Rick Perry noted that, after his state enacted tort reform measures, the number of doctors applying to practice medicine in Texas “skyrocketed by 57 percent” and that the tort reforms “brought critical specialties to underserved areas.” These are real reforms that actually improve access to health care....Dr. Weinstein’s research shows that around $200 billion per year could be saved with legal reform. As is usually the case with his interviews, Obama has given Republicans and conservatives a gift. This statement shows that his loyalty lies with trial lawyers and comes just days after Obama claimed in his address to a joint session of Congress that he'd be open to inserting meaningful tort reform measures into a prospective healthcare bill. Howard Dean already let the cat out of the bag at a recent townhall when he admitted that "[t]he reason that tort reform is not in the bill is because the people who wrote it did not want to take on the trial lawyers in addition to everybody else they were taking on."
Polling indicates that a plurality of Americans support the idea advocated by Governor Palin and other conservatives and currently opposed by Obama and most of the Democrat Party. Republicans and conservatives should take a stand in support of honest doctors and make it clear that that there "can be no true healthcare reform without legal reform."
This interview also revealed that Obama remains angry that the idea of "death panels" has been introduced into the debate:
The notion that we've got death panels that would pull the plug on grandma. As I said before, that's a simple lie. Correct me if I'm wrong but hasn't Obama now explicitly used the phrase "death panels" more than Governor Palin? Nearly half the country believes Obama is lying. Perhaps this strategy of calling political adversaries liars without addressing their arguments is a strategy that should be placed on its death panel.
He lies!
Barry makes Pinnochio look like an amatuer....
send your promising offspring to law school, NOT med school
Caps have been a dismal failure in Texas. If they kill your spouse , you get $250 k — that’s it. Net reduction of health care costs -— absolutely ZERO!!! None!!!
NO TORT REFORM FOR DRS. SO I GUESS PEOPLE WILL BE ABLE
TO SUE THE GOV. WHEN HEALTH CARE IS TAKEN OVER....NOT!!!!!
shylock bump for later.......
I had the interview on as I was making supper and nearly burned myself when I heard him roll out that whopper about “health care reform being necessary to getting the economy out of the recession”. And Steve Kroft sat there and didn’t ask him to explain that incredulous statement. If Kroft trusts him that much, I’m sure if Obama had asked Steve to pull his finger he would have.
I guess government intervention is a good thing after all.
Welcome to FR Londonfog. Gee, what a clever secret agent name. You’ve been reported, so go back to your little DNC hovel and tell how you fooled all of us.
Pray for America
Please.
If they kill your spouse, file criminal negligence charges or a wrongful death suit.
If your wife dies despite standard of care treatment by a competent physician, she wasn't 'killed'...she died. And, try as we might, us Doctors are just mere mortals. We cannot keep everyone from dying.
Please, what are you talking about?? Do you want caps on the killing of your loved one? Shirley not and don’t call me Shirley.
There are no caps on economic damages.
What’s the temp at DNC HQ?? They need to hire a better class of mole. Yeah, 250K sounds like more than enough if it is negligent. Texas has lowered their malpractice insurance 30% thanks to tort reform.
You think bankrupting doctors is a good thing? We would be better off w/no lawyers than no doctors. Now go tell your superiors how you’re fooled us.
Pray for America
God you must be so happy Doctor!!
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