The Obama administration's proposed budget includes $250 million in Justice Department grants to help state rewrite their medical malpractice laws along the lines of recommendations from the deficit commission.
"These grants will help states reform their laws to pursue innovative approaches that will improve the quality of health care, reduce medical costs and liability, and protect patient safety," Justice Department spokeswoman Tracy Schmaler said Tuesday.
Specific reforms the money could be used for exclude caps on jury awards that the American Medical Association and GOP lawmakers have pursued for years without success. But they do include measures that have been unacceptable to trial lawyers, an interest group that contributes heavily to Democratic candidates....
Obama's proposal got a cool reception Tuesday from congressional Republicans, who feel he has a record of promising more on malpractice than he delivers.
Malpractice reform is fine as far as it goes. The CBO estimated in the fall of 2009 that malpractice reform could save as much as $41 billion in Medicaid and Medicare spending in ten years. The problem is, that's about half a percent of the nation's healthcare spending. It's hardly a drop in the cost-reduction bucket. There are other reforms, including a public option, that the deficit commission chairs proposed that could do more. In terms of a serious policy proposal on reducing healthcare costs, this one isn't it.
It's fine to have it in the budget, though that $250 million would cover, for example, the low income energy assistance program for the state of Pennsylvania, arguably a much better use of a quarter of a billion dollars. But as a reach out to the Republicans and a sop to Simpson and Bowles, which it must be since it's not a particularly effective means of reducing healthcare costs, it appears to have fallen flat.