Bush turns up the heat on liability reform

While physicians hope Congress will pass reform, practices are still closing, and doctors are planning partial work stoppages in New Jersey.

By Tanya Albert, AMNews staff. Feb. 3, 2003.

President Bush in January renewed his push for Congress to pass legislation aimed at making medical liability insurance more affordable and available for physicians. This time, he emphasized how the "broken" system is hurting patient care.

The president first unveiled his tort reform plan last summer. It calls for a $250,000 cap on noneconomic damages in medical malpractice lawsuits, a shorter statute of limitations for such cases and other reforms.

But the then-Democrat-controlled Senate failed to pass legislation last year after the Republican-controlled House approved a bill that included the measures Bush favors.

The crisis has worsened in some places since then. Now more patients are directly affected, as physicians can no longer afford to keep their practices open because of rising liability insurance costs combined with low HMO and Medicare payments.

These problems have spurred physician protests. Surgeons in Wheeling, W.Va., took leaves of absence from area hospitals starting Jan. 1; massive office closures were averted in Scranton, Pa., this month after Gov. Edward Rendell promised to make changes; and New Jersey physicians are planning a partial work stoppage starting Feb. 3.

"When a doc can't pay the premiums and, therefore, can't practice, somebody is going without health care," Bush told a crowd gathered at the University of Scranton in mid-January. "It strains the system. So what happens is, doctors say, 'Well, gosh, I can't afford it here in Pennsylvania, I'm moving. I'll just take my heart and my skills to another community where I can afford it.' But when that happens, somebody hurts. Somebody doesn't have the care."