Healthcare costs

[Edwina's Secretary]

As for tort reform and the lawsuits as the basis for driving up health care costs, that is one side of a story that the insurance companies want the public to believe. Med mal cases are the hardest to prevail upon and the most expensive to litigate. They are few and far between when you consider lawsuits in general. Your run of the mill auto accident cases are much more common and frankly none of us pay close to $1500 a month for auto insurance.

The health insurance companies are one of the most "impressive" lobbying voices in DC. I encourage you to look beyond their story.

When a lawsuit is filed against a big pharma it makes the news. Heck, when the jury verdict comes down...that might make the news. Summary judgments, dismissals and overturned verdicts rarely make the news. And occur frequently.

This is also true in employment law. I was involved in a case where the jury verdict of $6 million was the lead story on every news channel, radio station, newspaper. Months later when the judge overturned the verdict and ordered the former employee to pay the company's court cost - it did not even make a mention. People are not interested in that.

I won't argue whether tort reformed is needed or not - or whether it should be restricted to medical cases. I have mixed feelings on that.

What I will argue is that tort reform will not solve the problem of 50 million uninsured and therefore without access to adequate medical care.