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Bush Plays Fast and Loose with the Facts at Fast Food Restaurant
To reward corporate friends, makes frivolous case for taking away patients’ rights

(Wednesday, February 15, 2006 -Washington DC)—In a speech at the Wendy’s headquarters in Dublin, Ohio today, President Bush once again attacked the civil justice system to make the case for eliminating key protections that allow people to hold insurance and drug companies accountable when their gross negligence causes injuries or death.

“It’s no wonder the President attacks the civil justice system – it holds his corporate contributors accountable when they price-gouge doctors, raise health care prices, knowingly market deadly drugs and endanger the public health,” said Ken Suggs, President of the Association of Trial Lawyers of America (ATLA).

In his speech today, Bush repeated his false charge that rising health care costs are the result of the civil justice system and misled the public about the availability of doctors, OB/GYNs in particular. Here are the facts:

• The number of OB/GYNs is increasing, according to the American Medical Association.
• Malpractice costs account for less than 2% of health care expenses, according to the Congressional Budget Office.
• Insurance companies have increased medical malpractice premiums – but their claims payouts have remained flat.
• Even the insurance industry has admitted that “tort reform” won’t lower insurance rates. (“We have not promised price reductions with tort reform.” -Dennis Kelly of the American Insurance Association, Chicago Tribune, 1/3/05)

Though the President opened his speech with a reference to rallying the “armies of compassion,” the bill he is pressing Congress to pass is anything but compassionate. Bush’s malpractice bill would pad the profits of his contributors in the insurance and drug industries but do nothing to lower health care costs.

Specifically, his malpractice proposal:

• Caps the value of a child killed by the gross negligence of a hospital or by a drug the pharmaceutical company knew to be deadly at $250,000, regardless of circumstance.
• Gives sweeping immunity to the pharmaceutical industry and corporations like Merck, which produced the drug Vioxx, responsible for the deaths of as many as 55,000 Americans.
• Has not one line about insurance reform to reduce rates for doctors or patients.

“The armies of compassion would not support taking away the rights of people injured by deadly drugs or medical negligence in order to increase corporate profits – but that’s exactly what the President’s malpractice proposal does,” concluded Suggs.

Additional Facts

AMA Data: The Growth in the Number of OB/GYNs Has Outpaced Increases in the U.S. Population.
According to the American Medical Association, the number of OB/GYNs has increased by nearly 60 percent – from 26,305 in 1980 to 42,059 in 2004. Over the same time period, the total U.S. population increased by only 29 percent – from 227.7 million in 1980 to 293.9 million in 2004.
[“Physician Characteristics and Distribution in the U.S.,” American Medical Association, 2006 edition, p.312; U.S. Census Bureau data, http://www.census.gov/prod/ 2005pubs/06statab/pop.pdf]

Congressional Budget Office: Malpractice Costs Amount to Less than 2 Percent of Health Care Spending.
According to the Congressional Budget Office, malpractice costs amount to “less than 2 percent of overall health care spending. Thus, even a reduction of 25 percent to 30 percent in malpractice costs would lower health care costs by only about 0.4 percent to 0.5 percent, and the likely effect on health insurance premiums would be comparably small.”
[“Limiting Tort Liability for Medical Malpractice,” Congressional Budget Office, 1/08/04]

CBO: Savings from Reducing Defensive Medicine would be “Very Small.”
According to the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) “… some so-called defensive medicine may be motivated less by liability concerns than by the income it generates for physicians or by the positive (albeit small) benefits to patients. On the basis of existing studies and its own research, CBO believes that savings from reducing defensive medicine would be very small.”
[“Limiting Tort Liability for Medical Malpractice,” Congressional Budget Office, 1/08/04; emphasis added]

Insurance Companies Increased Medical Malpractice Premiums While Claims Payments Remained Flat.
For years, medical malpractice insurance carriers have argued that malpractice claims payouts have increased dramatically, forcing the companies to raise the malpractice premiums they charge doctors to cover the payments. A study of the medical malpractice insurance industry by the former insurance commissioner of Missouri showed that over the last five years insurance companies have been price-gouging doctors by drastically raising their insurance premiums by more than double, even though claims payments have been flat, or in some cases decreasing. The study showed that between 2000 and 2004, insurers' net premiums increased by 120 percent, while net claims payments increased by less than 6 percent. In fact, in 2004, malpractice insurers' total premiums were three times higher than their total payouts.
[“Falling Claims and Rising Premiums in the Medical Malpractice Insurance Industry,” Jay Angoff, Center for Justice & Democracy, 7/7/05, http://www.centerjd.org/ANGOFFReport.pdf]

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As the world's largest trial bar, ATLA promotes justice and fairness for injured persons, defends the constitutional right to trial by jury, and strengthens the civil justice system through education and disclosure of information critical to public health and safety. With 60,000 members worldwide, ATLA provides lawyers with the information and professional assistance they need to serve clients successfully and protect the democratic values of the civil justice system.