Bush on Malpractice

From Point of Law (which has a longer quote), the president at a speech this afternoon:

Our fifth policy to confront high cost health care and to make sure private medicine is central in the United States is to confront the glut of frivolous lawsuits that are driving good doctors out of practice and driving up the cost of health care. (Applause.)

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The total cost of defensive medicine to our society is estimated at $60 billion to $100 billion a year, and that includes $28 billion billed directly to the American taxpayers through increased costs of Medicare, Medicaid, Veterans Affairs, and other federal health programs. The costs of frivolous litigation are more than financial; they hurt patients all across America.

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This is a national issue that requires a national response. The House of Representatives have [sic] passed a good bill. The Senate has done nothing on medical liability reform. For the sake of affordable and accessible health care, we need medical liability reform this year. (Applause.)

Update: The full transcript is available on the WH website.

You can also see Bush’s State of the Union reference to med mal and blogs’ discussions of it…