With reducing our sky-high deficit becoming a national priority, two leading bipartisan efforts have proposed comprehensive medical liability reform as part of the solution. Specifically, reasonable limits on non-economic damages have been cited as a key reform component that will reduce defensive medicine and related health care costs.

The National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform Chairmen Alan Simpson, a former Republican senator from Wyoming, and Erskine Bowles, former chief of staff to President Bill Clinton, released an initial proposal earlier this month that included plans to reduce health care costs – one of which is to “pay lawyers less and reduce the costs of defensive medicine by adopting comprehensive tort reform.”

Even more encouraging was the release of a second study by the Bipartisan Policy Center, placing the savings of restraining total health care costs at $756 billion through 2020, partly due to limits on noneconomic and punitive damages in medical liability cases.

The correlation is clear – comprehensive medical liability reform is a win-win for patients and all Americans. Not only will reform preserve access to quality care, it will reduce health care costs and the national debt. Protect Patients Now is pleased that there is renewed recognition of the benefits of reform and will continue to work with policy makers to turn these proposals into law. Click here and here to read our press releases that praise the work of both commissions.