This just in: health insurance companies are evil

[Lemur]

Indeed, I'm sure that malpractice lawsuits have to make up some part of the fee difference.

"Some" equals, according to the CBO, two percent. I'm all for limiting TORT damages, but here's the thing—forty-eight states already do. The other two can get in line whenever they like. Claiming that TORT reform will cause substantial savings in our bloated healthcare system is just willfully ignorant.

CBO estimates that the direct costs that providers will incur in 2009 for medical malpractice liability—which consist of malpractice insurance premiums together with settlements, awards, and administrative costs not covered by insurance—will total approximately $35 billion, or about 2 percent of total health care expenditures. Therefore, lowering premiums for medical liability insurance by 10 percent would reduce total national health care expenditures by about 0.2 percent.