Posted on 10/09/2009 11:56:20 AM PDT by keepitreal
WASHINGTON — Limits on medical malpractice lawsuits would lead doctors to order up fewer unneeded tests and save taxpayers billions more than previously thought, budget umpires for Congress said Friday in a reversal that puts the issue back in the middle of the health care debate.
The latest analysis from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimates that government health care programs could save $41 billion over ten years if nationwide limits on jury awards for pain and suffering and other similar curbs were enacted. Those savings are nearly ten times greater than CBO estimated just last year.
(Excerpt) Read more at google.com ...
I’m surprised to see this in AP. Dems pretty much ARE the Trial Lawyers Assocation.
“It could save $5 trillion”
Fantasy.
And it is a state issue, which used to be a conservative principle.
$5 trillion would matter. Thats real money. $41 billion over ten years = $4 billion per year savings. Do the math. Total health care costs in 2009 were $2.4 trillion. So less than 1/5 of 1%? Whoopee.
For comparisons, bank overdraft fees last year were about $40 billion. Ten times the savings here. Medicare fraud was about $60 billion. 15 times the cost.
parsy, who has said all along the “tort reform” nonsense was just a bunch of hooey.
A billion here, a billion there....
The libertarian wing of the GOP took over this issue which is how “conservatives” ended up on the wrong side of the issue. The GOP and LICE (Libertarians Infiltrating Conservative Entities) haven’t even bothered to provide numbers to the peanut gallery. In fact, numbers are readily available but all the dudes like Sean Hannity just don’t seem to notice them.
http://insurance-reform.org/TrueRiskF.pdf.
parsy, who says the facts would deflate this hot air balloon real fast
But.......these billions seem to like float from the doctors and their insurance companies over to the taxpayers to take care of the victims. Somebody has to pay the cost of malpractice. It can be the doctors and their insurance companies, or it can be the taxpayer.
It is very kind of conservatives to want to help these poor doctors by passing it to the taxpayer. I guess there really are “compassionate conservatives.”
parsy, who sees a light breaking thru yon window
Gee! D’ya think?
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