Rahm Orders Health Care Article Be Must-Read For Staffers

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

Another Republican cost-containment priority missing from the bill is meaningful medical malpractice reform. (The bill only encourages states to think about it.) Nichols, of the centrist New America Foundation, would like to see that included as well. Its omission is one reason he says he gives the plan a "b" rather than an "a"; the other is he'd like to see mechanisms to more quickly diffuse into the private insurance system reforms that show promise in Medicare. Democratic sources say a group of centrist Democrats led by Virginia Senator Mark Warner is trying to devise a package designed to do just that, perhaps by expanding the role of the independent Medicare advisory commission.

Compared to everything else we could do this is really a drop in the bucket. Tort reform might reduce costs at less than 1 percent. As it is, there is no correlation between health costs and malpractice claims rates.

What it does do is better protect companies when they #### up. Which is who the Republicans are more interested in protecting anyway. Less/Smaller lawsuits = better stock price

That is rubbish considering the doctor I recently spoke to from a small town said he has to pay $200K per year for such insurance. Who do you think these costs get passed on to?

If it's a drop in the bucket then you shouldn't have any problem with regulating it, that is, as do all other first world countries. I cannot go to Germany, Canada, Aus or the UK and sue the doctor for $20 million because I got an infection after surgery. This is the only (questionably) developed country that you can sue for spilling coffee on yourself. Sue because the auto manual did not say that cruise control does not mean the vehicle cannot drive itself.

The fastest way to have a lawyer abroad laugh is mention three words: 'US' and 'legal system'. That will get any and every lawyer going for hours.

High malpractice insurance rates are in OB/GYN, if you look at other specialties, its no where near that high. It also varies quite a bit regionally Florida sees rates as high as $200,000 and other states are under $15,000.

Minnesota has some of the lowest malpractice insurance premiums in the country, about $15,000-20,000 for OB/GYN, but yet the average health insurance premiums in the state are above the national average. If this issue contributed as much to cost as some people claim, there is no evidence to support it.

Agreed. Besides, I would like to think that medical malpractice reform would have been achievable if the Republicans had actually bothered to productively engage in the debate and pursue meaningful negotiotions on the measure. If the choice had come down to avoiding medical malpractice reform or achieving bi-partisanship, it would be a hands down win of the latter over the former.