Lawsuit limits worth looking at

Opinion

October 19, 2009

Anonymous The Commonwealth Journal Mon Oct 19, 2009, 09:36 AM EDT

If Congress is looking to lower the costs of potential health care reform, the Congressional Budget Office just offered another $41 billion solution.

That’s how much the deficit would be reduced over 10 years by a “typical” tort reform package like ones that have been debated but not passed in Congress for years. That savings would equal about 50 percent of the deficit reduction that would be brought about by the entire Senate Finance Committee bill. The whole bill. So any reform of lawsuit award laws would cut another $4 billion a year off the deficit.

CBO estimates typical lawsuit reform would reduce total U.S. health care spending by about $11 billion in 2009, or about 0.5 percent. About half of the savings would come from lower medical liability insurance premiums and half would come from reductions in so called “defensive medicine,” or extra tests doctors do to avoid lawsuits.

Tort reform sounds like a good value for the amount of money it will save in this potentially high-cost effort to provide needed health care for every American.

Of course, the Trial Lawyers Association has poured a lot of money into lobbying, and into Obama’s campaign. In fact, according to the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics, lawyers and law firms were the largest contributor to Obama’s campaign, giving him $43 million.

And they seem to paint any proposal for tort reform with very emotional-laden arguments, claiming those hurt by big business or industry or medicine will be left without their due reward. Obama has said he is willing to do a “pilot project” on tort reform. That’s not enough when we need money to pay for this health care bill.

Typical tort reform bills debated in Congress in the past have been moderate reductions in lawyers’ ability to win huge verdicts. A bill in 2006 that didn’t pass a Senate filibuster would have capped some pain and suffering awards at $250,000 to $750,000. That did not include payments victims would get for actual loss of income and support of children. There were still no limits on economic damage awards. It also limited lawyers’ contingency fees at 15 percent.

The proposal seemed reasonable and it had the support of 48 senators, all Republicans. But 10 Senators also did not vote on the bill, including Sen. Barack Obama and Sen. Joe Biden. So there is at least a suggestion of bipartisan support.

Tort reform needs to be on the table in the upcoming negotiations over health care reform. It seems like it would be the perfect issue to garner some Republican votes, at least in the Senate, where three years ago, 48 of them voted in favor of reform..

•••

The Free Press

Mankato, Minn.

Text Only

Opinion

Why not charter schools?
The number of parents choosing to home school their children has risen by 50 percent in the last five years. I believe this is a direct indicator of the frustration parents have in the interference of the federal government in dictating what their children should be taught.
State Representative Brad Montell announced the pre-filing of legislation that, if passed, would establish a charter school initiative in Kentucky. (House Bill BR 117) Kentucky is one of only nine states in the nation that does not have charter schools, helping place Kentucky at number 37 out of 50 states in quality of education.
In charter schools, if educators are performing below standard, they can be terminated, not reassigned or given additional training. Most charter schools are non-union and non-tenured, so an educator knows he/she must perform to a high degree of excellence to retain employment. They can increase their chances of advancement through performance incentives.

December 30, 2011 1 Photo
Opinon: Don't Penalize Players for Being Good
Sports are intrinsically amoral.
Not immoral, as in evil. Amoral, as in indifferent to right or wrong.
That is not to say that you can’t do something immoral — something that flies in the face of conventionally accepted ideas of good and bad behavior — while playing sports. Look at Ndamukong Suh, the Detroit Lions defensive tackle who’s expected to be suspended for a game or two for stomping, apparently on purpose, another player during a Thanksgiving game with the Green Bay Packers.
Most Kentucky basketball fans would recall Duke forward Christian Laettner’s infamous stomp on UK’s Aminu Timberlake during the 1992 NCAA College Basketball Tournament, and think he probably deserved a fate similar to Suh’s.
But in and of themselves, there’s nothing morally good or bad about throwing a ball, or kicking a ball, or hitting a puck with a stick, or anything of that nature.
There are only the rules of the game. Break the rules, and the game has a system built in to penalize you for it.

November 29, 2011 1 Photo
Road goes back to property owner
October 25, 2011 1 Photo
Fool me once...

When putting pen to paper (or fingers to keypad), it is so easy to fall into the trap of wanting to denigrate those with opposing views relating to political beliefs and social issues. I try hard to constantly remind myself that there are two sides to every argument, and each side can be as passionate about their viewpoint as the other. It is tempting to accuse someone of being an idiot if we passionately disagree with them. The term “idiot” is used to describe someone who is weak minded, of low IQ, or incapable of learning. Anyone who reaches the hallowed halls of Congress or the Whitehouse is definitely not an idiot, but they can be misguided. George W. Bush, Yale graduate with a Texas size ego, and Barak Obama, Harvard graduate with a Chicago thug style political background, are two such men.

October 6, 2011 1 Photo
What does it maen?
/11. An instantly recognizable reference. One of those references to an event that all United States citizens of a certain age will always recognize. We will always ask, “what were you doing when you heard” and the question will be answered without a second's delay. It was an event that seared itself into our national psyche along with other societal tremors. 9/11 ushered in a new age for the United States and the decade since has brought systemic changes to our society, some for the better, some for the worse. 9/11 revealed in us a willingness to help others at great risk to our own lives and uncovered a fear that we may not be as safe as we thought we were. 9/11 has been used as both reason and excuse for a lot of things, many not very reasonable.

September 13, 2011 1 Photo
The day of indelible memories

On a normal day, in my average, everyday, normal life, I would be hard pressed to tell you what I had for dinner the previous day. No, I’m not suffering from dementia or Alzheimer disease. The mind of the average person does not register routine activities as important enough to be a lasting memory. Not so on September 11, 2001. I would venture to say that the majority of the people in America have some indelible memories of what they were doing that day.

September 11, 2011
Dana Allen
Dana Michele Allen, age 25, of Somerset, departed this life on Sunday, April 25, 2010 in Lexington, Ky.

April 27, 2010 1 Photo
Ruth Morris Ruth Morris, 66, of Somerset, Ky., passed away Friday, April 16, 2010, at Lake Cumberland Regional Hospital in Somerset.
April 20, 2010
Betty Lou Payne Betty Lou Payne, 70, of Somerset, Ky. passed away on Tuesday, March 23, 2010 at her home.
March 29, 2010 1 Photo
Amidst the Tragedy
February 11, 2010
More Opinion Headlines

Opinion

Search Results

Lawsuit limits worth looking at

Site Map