Tort Reform Key to Affordable Healthcare

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October 9th, 2009		Media Contact(s): Mark Eddington and Andrea Saul, 202-224-5251
	Printable Version
TORT REFORM KEY TO AFFORDABLE HEALTHCARE Hatch Points to New CBO Analysis of Medical Malpractice

WASHINGTON – Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), senior member of the Senate Finance Committee, today received a letter from the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) in which they updated their analysis on the potential budgetary effects of tort reform proposals aimed at limiting the costs related to medical malpractice. CBO was responding to Hatch’s rigorous dialogue with them regarding tort reform during the health care reform debate throughout this year. “I think this response from the CBO confirms that there is a growing problem regarding the costs of health care lawsuits,” Hatch said. “In years past, the CBO mainly focused on the cost doctors’ malpractice insurance premiums and did not adequately address the tendency of doctors to use ‘defensive medicine,’ which does little to promote patient health and serves only to help doctors avoid being sued.” A strong proponent of tort reform, Sen. Hatch has long said that by making some simple changes to our tort system, including caps on noneconomic damages and other commonly-proposed measures, we could reduce the cost of health care services. The CBO found that by instituting prudent tort reform measures, federal spending would be reduced by $41 billion over ten years and the federal deficit would decline by $54 billion. Senator Hatch also noted that “I think that this is an important step in the right direction and these numbers show that this problem deserves more than lip service from policy-makers. Unfortunately, up to now, that has been all the President and his Democratic allies in Congress have been willing to provide on these issues. I look forward to having a continued comprehensive dialogue on this critical issue with CBO.” The full letter is attached here. View related PDF: HatchMedMal.PDF (525.0 KBs)

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