Posted on 11/21/2007 1:29:05 PM PST by 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
(Excerpt) Read more at ap.google.com ...
Health care is a private service business. Insurance is a private service business. Free or government subsidized health care or health insurance are not constitutional rights. It would be unconstitutional for the government to pay for private services for individuals. It would also be unconstitutional for the government to force individuals to subscribe to any private service business. Furthermore, using the tax code for social engineering is unconstitutional.
If a local community, church, charity or group of doctors, etc, wishes to provide a local hospital, emergency room or clinic for poor people, more power to them. But it’s none of the federal government’s business.
Why would you not carry “uninsured motorist” coverage on your insurance policy? It’s not the government’s business to insure your private property or to force your neighbors to cover it for you.
Fix the real problem them. Don’t compound it.
Sorry, that analogy does not work for me.
So what did people do before they had cars or mandated insurance?
They apparently were able to get along.
Look up the McCarron-Ferguson Act.
It exempts insurance companies from federal regulation (like anti-trust laws), and puts it in the hands of the states.
Insurance companies, headquartered in one state, are conducting business in another state. That’s interstate commerce, and the Constitution grants Congress the right to regulate interstate commerce. So why did Congress, in its infinite stupidity, strip themselves of a Constitutionally-guaranteed power?
Because there is no federal oversight, insurance companies are free to practice price collusion, and create oligopolies. They also cherry-pick which states are most profitable, threatening to leave the state if state insurance commissioners impose regulations that are too consumer-friendly. The states are handcuffed.
Most of the problems with the insurance industry today are *because* there is no Federal anti-trust oversight of insurance companies.
Some things are best handled at the federal level, which is why the Constitution gave Congress that power.
Insurance regulation and tort reform are two examples of things that are best handled at the Federal level.
It’s a private business!!!!
Furthermore,
What should happen is that if the owner of that car cannot pay for damages, his car and his right to drive are taken away for whatever would be an appropriate amount of time. The car or what it is worth should be given to the victim.
One thing I do know, our lives would be much simpler, productive, and happy without the government mandating things that belong to the choice of the individual.
If the founder’s of this country were alive today, they certainly would not be in favor of this type of nanny-statism.
For years, conservatives have been saying to prioritize and buy health insurance. Now that the MA law is requiring them to do that, some people are complaining.
Do you not see the difference between “You should buy insurance” and “You must buy insurance?”
Car insurance is only required when you operate a motor vehicle on the government owned roadway. Bad analogy between car insurance and health insurance.
Yes, but some people have to be forced into it.
Auto insurance is only required for the privilege to drive. I can decline to have it without penalty.
I can’t decline Mitt’s health insurance without penalty.
Clamping down on attorney fees and establishing caps in class action cases would accomplish more.
That would help as well. I see it daily. I work for defense attorneys.
No, they don’t. The don’t have to be forced to quit smoking, eat healthy, or read your favorite publications.
Fixed it.
Good is what I say — RESPONSIBILITY.
I know it’s a little disheartening that somethings have to come to that.
That is the part you fail to understand!
If some socialist craphole state imposes a bunch of stupid regulations that make it unprofitable for business to operate, the voters in that state can vote them out of office.
Its not my problem!
If socialist morons want to screw up their state they can pay 100% of the cost of their actions.
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