Mar 15 2012
Joining the two measures is causing some Democrats who back the repeal of the health law's Independent Payment Advisory Board to change their positions.
Politico: GOP Links IPAB Repeal And Malpractice Reform
IPAB repeal legislation began to hemorrhage Democratic support Monday, after Republicans said they intend to pair the broadly popular House bill with a more partisan medical malpractice reform package (Dobias, 3/13).
Modern Healthcare: IPAB Repeal Attached To House Tort-Reform Bill
House members are expected to vote next week on a medical liability reform bill that includes language to repeal the health reform law's Independent Payment Advisory Board, House Republican aides say.When they return to Capitol Hill after a weeklong recess, House members will consider the Help Efficient, Accessible, Low-Cost, Timely Healthcare (HEALTH) Act of 2011, a bill introduced last year by Reps. Phil Gingrey (R-Ga.), Lamar Smith (R-Texas) and David Scott (D-Ga.). That bill calls for capping punitive damages in healthcare lawsuits to $250,000 or two times the amount of economic damages awarded, whichever is greater (Zigmond, 3/13).
This article was reprinted from kaiserhealthnews.org with permission from the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. Kaiser Health News, an editorially independent news service, is a program of the Kaiser Family Foundation, a nonpartisan health care policy research organization unaffiliated with Kaiser Permanente. |