Ohhhhhhhhhhhh, my word, he is SO disgusting...

[Crankie Avalon]

...and so @#$% transparent!!!

How can anyone still be fooled by him??? I read the nonsense he says about healthcare costs and it's just so obvious he's out to raise the profits of insurance companies even higher by limiting their payouts (without any talk of corresponding limits on premiums they charge) and wonder how on earth can anyone buy this snake oil?

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Bush Continues Push for Jury Award Limits

By NEDRA PICKLER, Associated Press Writer

COLLINSVILLE, Ill. - President Bush (news - web sites) pressured Congress Wednesday to pass legislation limiting jury awards for medical malpractice, saying the legal system favors attorneys who file baseless cases that drive up the cost of health care.

"What I'm here to do is say as clearly as I can — the United States Congress needs to pass real medical liability reform this year," Bush said, standing on stage in front of dozens of doctors in white lab coats.

In his first speechmaking trip of the new year and the first ever of a sitting president to Collinsville, Bush said that large malpractice awards have increased the cost of business so much that doctors have to close their businesses or scale back services. He said it also drives up the cost of personal health insurance.

"Many of the costs we are talking about don't start in an examining room or an operating room, they start in a courtroom," Bush said.

Rest of this nonsense: http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/bush_lawsuits

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He never gives data about whether this is truly widespread or not, just generalities and anecdotes. I've heard people who actually keep track of these things say that the the scenarios he paints hardly ever happen in the real world. It's a negligible factor in the cost of health care, and microscopic compared to insurance companies soaking everyone down the chain so they can recoup their losses in the stock market (because God forbid they should ever make a slightly smaller return on investment than 20 or 30% or whatever it is year after year after year).

And look at his face and his attitude when he shills this stuff:





Unbelievable. I know I should be used to it, by now, but...unbelievable.

[underpants]

1. Still not making a direct connection between tort reform laws.....

and lowering insurance premiums for doctors OR lowering medical costs.

[PDX Bara]

6. You are right

...and where your underpants? I didn't see them today and don't think I've seen them for a while.

[PunkPop]

2. He is a lying sack of sh*t

But we already knew that.

[Nicholas D Wolfwood]

3. Insurance companies assign the blame when raising rates.

This comes despite the fact that they are still reporting record profit margins. The American Medical Association, which receives money from said insurance companies, pushes their docs to push tort reform. Docs, only really caring about the fact that their insurance rates are skyrocketing, don't look much into the matter and echo the insurance company's complaint.

Of course, even if Bush gets his way, insurance rates are going to increase anyway. Rates have never truly been tied to the frequency of claims, only the desires of greedy board members.

[Peter Frank]

4. You're right...

...It amazes me that people still believe what he has to say on the face of it. There's always a perk for the wealthy (at the cost of others) in every program he puts forward. Look at the privatization of SS.

[txaslftist]

5. Pure Crapola....

And ignores the fact that in every one of the cases where he wants a limit, a jury of citizens has determined that a doctor screwed up!

[flpoljunkie]

7. Public Citizen reports that malpractice payouts up only 1% in last decade!

There is no medical malpractice crisis!

Bush knows it, but what I don't understand is why the doctors are naive enough to not realize he is playing them against the insurance companies. They are the ones that need to be regulated. They raise malpractice rates to recoup their investment (read stock market) losses.