FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: November 2, 2009
MEDIA CONTACT: Courtney Sanders
Hutchison on Pelosi Punishing States That Enact Tort Reform
Democrats Putting Partisan Allies Over American People
WASHINGTON, DC - As Americans toil through Speaker Nancy Pelosi and the Democrats’ nearly 2,000 page reform plan that includes a mandate on individuals and higher taxes that will increase premiums for middle-class families, U.S. Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-TX) today released the following statement on the Democrats’ attempt to punish states that enact tort reform to lower medical malpractice coverage and help increase access to doctors:
“It's now clear the Democrats, under Speaker Pelosi and Leader Reid, have thrown the shared goal of increased access and lower-cost healthcare out the window, and are now focused solely on remaking the healthcare system to benefit liberal special interests first, and the American people last,” Senator Hutchison said. “While non-partisan reports have clearly stated that tort reform could potentially save the American people more than $50 billion in just the next decade, Democratic leadership emerged from behind their closed doors with built-in protections for the trial lawyers bankrolling their campaigns - legislation that specifically punishes states like Texas that implement commonsense caps on attorney's fees and damages.”
Starting under then-Governor George W. Bush, Texas has implemented a series of medical liability reforms, including a law capping payments for pain and suffering and loss of companionship to $250,000, that have resulted in a 50% drop in malpractice premiums, fewer medical liability suits, and according to a recent Wall Street Journal article, a large increase in the number of doctors moving to Texas to practice medicine.
The Democrats’ reform proposal establishes an incentive program for states to adopt and implement alternatives to medical liability litigation. But states like Texas that enact laws that limit attorneys’ fees or impose caps on damages are not eligible for the incentive payments.
Without medical lawsuit reform, physicians have started scaling back their practices to exclude high-risk specialties, or even closing their doors altogether. Others are responding by practicing defensive medicine, whereby doctors order costly and unnecessary tests or procedures to protect themselves from lawsuits. Medical liability has excessively burdened the health delivery system, and steps can be taken to protect doctors and patients alike. Reasonable caps on non-economic damages make sure patients are compensated when errors are made, but will help curb the litigious abuse that has impaired health care across the U.S.
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