President Obama Opens Door For Pilot Project on Malpractice Reform

by Peggy Venable, AFP-Texas Director

In his Presidential address last night, Obama said he’d talked to some doctors and learned that unnecessary medical procedures were being done due to fear of medical malpractice lawsuits. 

In town hall meetings across the country, elected officials heard from citizens that tort reform needs to be part of any health care reform Congress considers.

Obama didn’t mention that medical malpractice insurance rates are high – those costs are either passed on to patients, or doctors limit their practice. In Texas, many doctors refused to deliver babies for fear of lawsuits. Last night, Obama entertained the idea of tort reform, saying we could try it in some states with pilot projects.

While that likely caused heartburn with his personal injury lawyer friends and donors, we have good news. No need for a pilot project.

It’s been done!

Earth to Obama: Texas enacted malpractice reform years ago.  The President would benefit from a phone call to Texas Governor Rick Perry.

Texas passed significant tort reform in 1995 and more reforms have been enacted since then. A study released in 2008 outlined the benefits stating that perhaps the most visible economic impact of lawsuit reforms are the benefits experienced by Texans who have better access to high-quality healthcare. Doctors and hospitals are using their liability insurance savings to expand services and initiate innovative programs; those savings have allowed Texas hospitals to expand charity care by 24%.

In the study titled “The Texas Turnaround,” The Perryman Group measured the incremental gains from tort reform and found that the total impact of tort reforms implemented since 1995 includes gains of $112.5 billion in spending each year as well as almost 499,900 jobs in the state. The fiscal stimulus to the State from judicial reforms is almost $2.6 billion per year increase in state revenue.

Texas reforms limited non-economic damages in medical malpractice litigation, which alone lead to gains of $55.3 billion in spending per year and more than 223,000 jobs. In addition, these impacts are responsible for approximately 430,000 individuals having health insurance than would otherwise, and there has been an increase in the number of doctors, particularly in regions which have been facing severe shortages. In the Houston-Sugarland-Baytown area, the impact of tort reform has been astounding.

Since 1995, over $39 billion has been added to the economy and 152,905 jobs were created.

The 2003 omnibus tort reform bill, HB 4 sponsored by former Rep. Joe Nixon, has been very successful and was touted in the Wall Street Journal: http://www.tortreform.com/node/462. This Administration may want to subscribe to that publication.

But there is more. Those the class action lawsuits which result in hundreds or thousands of plaintiffs getting nothing more than a coupon also provides justice to the ambulance-chasing lawyers who file those suits. If filed in Texas, instead of getting six-figure attorney fees when citizens get coupons, the lawyers who file those bills get paid like the plaintiffs they abuse do -- in coupons. Gotta love Texas!

Obama and Congress could learn from Texas. Many Americans consider our national economy and unemployment as important issues.

Texas created more jobs than any other state last year – 70% of the jobs created in the U.S. were in Texas. Texas is also the No. 1 exporting state, the top state for businesses to relocate, has the most Fortune 500 Companies, has been rating No. 1 for transparency, has more wind generation than any other state, and on and on. Texas’ good credit rating has improved, according to Standard and Poor’s.

Much of this information is on the Americans for Prosperity web page Good News In Texas.

President Obama and his staff can find Gov. Perry’s phone number listed, but in case they need some help – you can call him at 512-463-2000.

Peggy Venable, is the Texas director for Americans for Prosperity.