Wednesday, September 08, 2004
Setting the Record Straight: President Bush?s Proposed Medical Malpractice Reforms Would Make Insurance More Affordable For Millions Of Americans
Kerry's Claim: President Bush?s proposed medical malpractice reforms benefit insurance companies instead of patients.
The Truth: Kerry is misleading Americans about the medical liability lawsuits that are costing Americans as much as $108 billion each year. Even Kerry?s running mate acknowledges that our nation faces a serious medical liability crisis.
The President has a specific plan to lower the cost of health care by enacting common sense reforms, including reasonable caps on noneconomic damages to rein in runaway medical malpractice lawsuits. The Department of Health and Human Services found that states with caps of $350,000 or less on non-economic damages saw their malpractice premiums increase at less than half the rate of states without such caps. Without the burden of rising malpractice premiums, more doctors will be able to practice medicine at lower costs to the patients they serve and states will be able to recover from the growing physician shortages they are facing.
The Kerry campaign falsely argues that putting caps on non-economic damages does not reduce malpractice premiums, but the study they rely on for this claim ? the Weiss Ratings Report on Medical Malpractice Caps ? has been discredited by its own data sources. Kerry?s medical liability reform plan adds bureaucracy to an already over-burdened system while failing to address the exploding costs of medical liability litigation. Kerry would require medical liability cases to be reviewed by expert panels before being filed in court, but the opinions of these panels are not binding in most court systems and several states have already deemed such panels unconstitutional.
Kerry's overall health care plan is just as concerning. Kerry's government-run program would not lower health care costs, but simply shift them to taxpayers. Kerry's plan would take control away from doctors and patients while empowering bureaucrats in Washington, D.C.
