Medical Malpractice And the Health Reform Bills

In today’s Los Angeles Times, Tom Hamburger and James Oliphant report on the lobbying efforts to keep medical malpractice reform out of the health care reform bills:

….With Democratic strategists looking for ways to woo Republican support for the overall healthcare bill, changes in so-called tort law seemed likely. Even President Obama in a speech to the American Medical Assn. said he recognized the issue as a problem.

But after a massive lobbying campaign and party-line votes in Congress, the malpractice system is largely untouched by the Democrats’ healthcare overhaul. Drug makers and the insurance industry, in contrast, were forced to make costly concessions….

– SBS