Limiting medical malpractice lawsuits and changing the doctor payment system are being debated as possible ways to make health care more cost-effective.
One of the "gang of six" Senate Finance Committee negotiators, Sen. Mike Enzi, R-Wyo., recently listed changing tort law as a "common sense reform" to reduce health care costs. He said America needs "to reform our flawed medical liability system and eliminate junk lawsuits against doctors and hospitals," NPR reports. "Democrats, who get significant backing from trial lawyers, have generally resisted efforts to curb lawsuits." And "former Democratic Senator Bill Bradley suggests a grand bipartisan trade-off: Give the GOP the relief from lawsuits they want in exchange for the universal health insurance that Democrats want." The American Medical Association's immediate past president, Dr. Nancy Nielsen, says the idea "would be a wonderful thing if it were that simple."