Last night President Obama threw out a little bone to Republicans on tort reform. He said he would have his HHS Secretary, Kathleen Sebelius, look into some sort of trials to bring down malpractice costs. Something about looking into ways to reduce the instances of medical errors. Hardly taking on the trial lawyers. Especially since Kathleen Sebelius spent eight years heading up the Kansas Trial Lawyers Association. It’s on her resume. (Via America Watches Obama)
Do you wonder why the democrats are so opposed to tort reform? Any idea how much tort reform could save per year? Kimberley Strassel answers both questions in The Wall Street Journal. If you aren’t mad yet you will be after reading this.
Tort reform is a policy no-brainer. Experts on left and right agree that defensive medicine—ordering tests and procedures solely to protect against Joe Lawyer—adds enormously to health costs. The estimated dollar benefits of reform range from a conservative $65 billion a year to perhaps $200 billion. In context, Mr. Obama’s plan would cost about $100 billion annually. That the president won’t embrace even modest change that would do so much, so quickly, to lower costs, has left Americans suspicious of his real ambitions.
It’s also a political no-brainer. Americans are on board. Polls routinely show that between 70% and 80% of Americans believe the country suffers from excess litigation. The entire health community is on board. Republicans and swing-state Democrats are on board. State and local governments, which have struggled to clean up their own civil-justice systems, are on board. In a debate defined by flash points, this is a rare area of agreement.
The only folks not on board are a handful of powerful trial lawyers, and a handful of politicians who receive a generous cut of those lawyers’ contingency fees. The legal industry was the top contributor to the Democratic Party in the 2008 cycle, stumping up $47 million. The bill is now due, and Democrats are dutifully making a health-care down payment.
During the markup of a bill in the Senate Health Committee, Republicans offered 11 tort amendments that varied in degree from mere pilot projects to measures to ensure more rural obstetricians. On a party line vote, Democrats killed every one. Rhode Island senator and lawyer Sheldon Whitehouse went so far as to speechify on the virtues of his tort friends. He did not, of course, mention the nearly $900,000 they have given him since 2005, including campaign contributions from national tort powerhouses like Baron & Budd and Motley Rice. [...]
Over in the House the discussion isn’t about tort reform, but about tort opportunities. During the House Ways & Means markup of a health bill, Texas Democrat Lloyd Doggett ($1.5 million from lawyers) introduced language to allow freelance lawyers to sue any outfit (say, McDonald’s) that might contribute to Medicare costs. Only after Blue Dogs freaked out did the idea get dropped, though the trial bar has standing orders that Democrats make another run at it in any House-Senate conference.
The one thing they could do to immediately lower the cost of health care – without “adding a dime to the deficit” - the democrats refuse to do. If he were sincere when he said he would risk being a one-term president for true health care reform, he would have thrown the tort lobby under his bus in a heartbeat. So the next time you hear Obama railing against “special interests,” keep in mind which special interest group he’s looking out for.
I can tell you the special interest group he’s selling down the river – the American people.
