1 Health Highlights: Jan. 26, 2004 Bush Resuscitates Plan to Cap Medical Malpractice Awards President Bush says huge medical malpractice awards are inflating health-care costs for everyone, and he's revived a plan to impose limits on how much juries can award victims, the Associated Press reports. "We can help control rising health-care costs by cutting down on frivolous lawsuits against doctors and hospitals," Bush said in his weekly radio address over the weekend. The president made virtually the same appeal in 2003, but his plan was stalled by Senate Democrats, who argued the measure would help insurance companies at the expense of injured patients. The legislation that Congress failed to pass last year would have limited pain and suffering awards to $250,000 and punitive damages to the same amount or twice a person's actual financial loss. It would have also limited lawyer fees and curtailed a patient's ability to file suit after a certain amount of time had passed, the AP reports.
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1 Health Highlights: Jan. 26, 2004 Bush Resuscitates Plan to Cap Medical Malpractice Awards President Bush says huge medical malpractice awards are inflating.
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Health Highlights: Jan. 26, 2004
Bush Resuscitates Plan to Cap Medical Malpractice Awards
President Bush says huge medical malpractice awards are inflating health-care costs for everyone, and he's revived a plan to impose limits on how much juries can award victims, the Associated Press reports.
"We can help control rising health-care costs by cutting down on frivolous lawsuits against doctors and hospitals," Bush said in his weekly radio address over the weekend.
The president made virtually the same appeal in 2003, but his plan was stalled by Senate Democrats, who argued the measure would help insurance companies at the expense of injured patients.
The legislation that Congress failed to pass last year would have limited pain and suffering awards to $250,000 and punitive damages to the same amount or twice a person's actual financial loss. It would have also limited lawyer fees and curtailed a patient's ability to file suit after a certain amount of time had passed, the AP reports.
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Health-Care Spending Soars
Spurred by hospital and prescription drug costs, health-care spending rose 9.3% in 2002, to about $5,440 for every American.Spending on health care outpaced spending in other areas of the U.S. economy for the fourth consecutive year.Leading the surge was spending for prescription drugs, which was15.3% higher than in 2001. Hospital spending rose 9.5%, because of higher wages, a higher use of hospital services, and hospitals' ability to negotiate prices with health plans."This continued acceleration injects pressure into the health care system, and everyone -- from businesses, to government, to consumers -- is affected,"
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Consumer HealthInsurance
Health Care Economics
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Health Care Economics
Insurance National Health Care Expenditures Cost Control Methods