Democrats for Tort Reform

Democrats in Washington have long stymied medical malpractice reform at the behest of their check-writing supporters in the plaintiffs' bar. But maybe these politicians should look at a new poll that suggests they are out of step with the views of their own party's rank-and-file.

The Dems are a virtual arm of the trial lawyers. I can't see them cutting their biggest campaign donors off at the knees. If y'all are looking for them to sign onto tort reform, I wouldn't hold my breath looking for Democrats to end the reckless ligitation that's harming the best system of medical care the world has ever seen.

The Democrat voters seem to be in favor of tort reform, but not the majority of Democrat politicians.

But note this: in the state that has so many other economic woes, California, the cap on non-medical damages has been set at $250,000, and the malpractice insurance costs have been largely contained. The Democrats in California have benefitted indirectly, both as voters and as the party that controls very nearly everything at a state level. The tort lawyers, if they just went low-key, could probably overcome the objections raised by the voters that turned to Republicans for tort reform, and they would then (possibly) migrate back to the Democrats, as they have in California. Medical care in California is probably one of the better bargains available in that state, partly because of the lowered premiums on medical malpractice insurance, attributable directly to the cap on non-medical damages, and also the number of cases which are adjudicated out-of-court by arbitration, that never come before a jury.

This probably is what resuscitated the otherwise moribund Democrats in that state, in an election that common sense and the conventional wisdom said, they should have lost.

Once in a long while DiFi does something right. That cap they have in CA was vital in getting their medical costs in line (now if they could only stop giving away free health care to illegals they coudl avoid breaking the state budget). However, I expect the full force of trial lawyers to come down on DiFi and she will fold.

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