Romney: Cap Medical Malpractice Lawsuits [Romney vs Reagan]

Associated Press ^ | November 21, 2007 | By DAVID PITT

[Jim Robinson]

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney called Tuesday for capping medical malpractice lawsuits, a point that drew loud applause at an Iowa medical school.

Romney focused on health care in an address to some 500 students and faculty at Des Moines University. As governor of Massachusetts, Romney pushed through a plan aimed at reducing the ranks of uninsured in Massachusetts, a group once estimated at up to 500,000. Massachusetts residents had until last Thursday to sign up for health insurance or face possible penalties — a milestone Romney's rivals gleefully noted.

"I believe we have to enact federal caps on non-economic and punitive damages related to malpractice," Romney said. "These lottery-sized awards and frivolous lawsuits may enrich the trial lawyers but they put a heavy burden on doctors, hospitals and, of course through defensive medicine, they put a burden on the entire health care system."

Romney also would encourage states to create health courts with judges experienced in handling medical liability cases and would ask states to adopt sanctions against lawyers and others who repeatedly file frivolous malpractice claims.

"We've got to reign in the incessant cost of medical liability," he said.

~snip~

At one point, Romney joked about the "teeth" of failing to sign up in Massachusetts.

"If you don't have insurance you get charged $100 on your tax bill," he said. "So people are going to start buying insurance."

~snip~

Later, Romney told reporters the carrot-and-stick approach is necessary to get people to take responsibility for their own health care costs

[Jim Robinson]

By the way, if the senators were still representing the interests of their respective sovereign states as originally intended, none of this would be happening. The state legislators would not appoint senators who would rob them of their constitutional rights and powers.