[d14truth]

"Suppressing and individual's right to get redress for a tort in a court of law for the sake of the common good sounds like collectivism and socialism to me."

You're right, it is. Tort reform does not mean suppressing the 'individual's right', it means making 'common sense' a part of the equation.

From the family doctors I know, who were basically forced into the 'umbrella' of managed care, fear of the 'frivolous' suit and the costs of defending or insuring against one ended their ability to provide cost efficient care.

[ConsistentLibertarian]

I did a quick and dirty Google search to find rates for medical liability insurance. The AMA, in a four page flier promoting tort reform, cites rates between $7K and $12K a year for internists in LA. If you look at the annual cost of sustaining a private practice in internal medicine, that's going to be less than 5% of the total cost. Far less. So even if we eliminated all lawsuits, every single last one, not just frivolous lawsuits, and not just punitive damages, but every last lawsuit and every nickel in damages, that would save less than $45 out of that $900/month bill.