Thursday, October 15, 2009
Reid: Tort reform is no big deal
Ed Morrissey over at Hot Air takes the Senate Majority Leader to task because he "gets his numbers wrong, gets his scale wrong, and in the process admits that the actual cost of the Baucus plan is not $829 billion but $2 trillion:"
The influence that ATLA has on the Democratic Party leadership, and, by extension, the nature of health care reform legislation that has any chance of passing, is truly remarkable. It is clear that tort reform is a big deal for doctors and nurses -- just ask the next one you happen to see -- and it matters a fair amount to many Republican politicians. If it's only a budgetary rounding error in the greater scheme of things, why won't Sen. Reid compromise on the point if it pulls in some moderate Republican (or Blue Dog) votes in the House and Senate? Perhaps because he is in a dogfight to keep his seat, and needs a steady source of campaign funds to fend off challengers Danny Tarkanian and Sue Lowden, either one of whom are ahead of Reid in at least one recent poll. I am sure that Sen. Reid does not want to meet the same fate that Tom Foley met in the other chamber of Congress 15 years ago, when Foley became the first sitting Speaker of the House since 1862 not to win re-election.
CWCID: Hot Air
4 Comments:
By 
, at
Thu Oct 15, 11:42:00 PM:
Tort reform would help the health care industry, both profit oriented and non=profit. It would help the Boy Scouts and high school football teams. It would help coffee sellers, dry cleaners and anyone who has visitors the front door of their homes. The only group that would be hurt by tort reform would be the John Edwards of the world, and that is hardly a bad thing.
I've mentioned this before on this blog, but here is a short article on the cost of insurance on a small ladder manufacturer who was run out of business by "Big Law".
http://www.pointoflaw.com/archives/000168.php
Liberals talk lie they want to help Americans keep their jobs, but we can tell from their opposition to tort reform, it's just talk.
Kind of like that old "I will post the bill online for your review before I sign it," whopper.
By 
Georg Felis, at
Fri Oct 16, 01:18:00 AM:
Gaffe: A politician, telling the truth, by accident.
By , at
Fri Oct 16, 09:32:00 AM:
About once a month, I call my Congresswoman for giggles. Nita Lowey is married to Stephen Lowey of Lowey Dannenberg, a big plaintiff class action firm -- so I'm tilting at windmills. Connections like the Loweys are rife in DC. It's why the corruption is so endemic. Barney Frank's "Fannie Mae boy toy" is another example. It's easy to buy votes by paying soft dollars to relatives, etc who are lobbyists, lawyers, real estate brokers, etc. etc. It's why DC is the only place in the US that's prospering.
My calls aren't totally useless. I've got Congresswomen Nita's local staffers agreeing with me -- sotto voce -- which is something.
My pitch is: ... the numbers already don't add up. This isn't Democrat v Republican, because the numbers are already so bad. We could go to 99% marginal rates on the top 5% and government would still go broke. Unemployment will stay high, especially for the young. Government budgets at all levels will start blowing up. Healthcare will only make this worse. The FAQs on Healthcare the Congresswoman has on her website are demonstrably false [ add a bit of detail, cite the Massachusetts experience ]. The young -- like you -- will get stuck with the bill, and with zero prospects . Do you disagree with any of this? ... muttering on the other end ... Are you getting many calls like this? Answer ... Yes.
We can change the minds of the young. They're a key demographic slice necessary to rebuilding an effective opposition. They do respond to reason and facts, I'm finding. Obama beats "old white Wonder bread" in a popularity contest, but that's yesterday's story.
We need to retake the House by running against Nancy, Barney and Charlie on a nationwide platform. Taking out Harry Reid in the Senate would be a bonus.
Link, over
By , at
Fri Oct 16, 11:29:00 AM:
I am the CEO of a start-up medical device company and believe it or not, I am the biggest cheerleader for some type of healthcare reform. There is not another industry in the world that is as screwed up as our healthcare system is. Unfortunately, the plans that I have see that are coming out of DC are only going to make a long-term untenable future cost problem worse and quickly make it a short-term holy shit problem!
If there is ever exhibit A of how disingenious the Democratic party is it would be Tort Reform. Tort reform just in the healthcare arena alone is laughable how far reaching lawyers are in everything that is conducted in a medical practice. The reductions in medical malpractice insurance would drop $54 Billion but the useless tests and cover-your-ass medicine that goes on today would be savings in the hundreds of billions of dollars.
