Sunday, February 27, 2011

When he is not stupid, i.e., does Conservative things, he is not terrible.


Sebelius: Obama "Very Serious" About Tort Reform.

The AP, "Putting his own stamp on a long-standing Republican priority, President Barack Obama is launching a drive to overhaul state medical malpractice laws and cut down on wasteful tests doctors perform because they fear lawsuits." In fact, "Obama's budget calls for $250 million in Justice Department grants to help states rewrite their malpractice laws in line with recommendations that his bipartisan debt reduction commission issued last year." Speaking before the Senate Finance Committee on Tuesday, HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said, "I think the president is very serious about following up on this." 

3 comments:

Baxter said...

I hope that any tort reform is comprehensive, covering all fields and not just medicine. There is no reason the docs - an affluent and comfortable bunch - should receive exclusive relief.

I'd like to see the standard of proof requirements raised to "clear and convincing evidence" from "preponderance of the evidence" in tort cases. Any "loser pays" protocol ought to apply only in the event of a frivolous or utterly unsupported claim. Otherwise, ordinary people will risk financial ruin by simply seeking to be made whole.

Jim G. said...

Anything that Jim likes is 'conservative', anything he doesn't like is 'socialist'; doesn't matter at all what the words actually mean.

No! They really mean something. Gosh, Eric, I did not know you did not know the difference. Let me help. Socialist is in short Government control, Conservative is...not. We, Conservatives, use words like liberty, freedom, self responsibility. So, when I write on the blog about Conservative, I mean, using a system of government that promotes those values. Rich and Terry (and you I think, but can't be sure) want government to "smooth" things out for all citizens by redistributing resources and income...we think such stuff is immoral and make things worse...hope that helps.

Now, we are not always perfect, and contradictions abound, but the goal remains. In fact, and this is our argument, if things were run in a "Conservative" manner (see above) we would be much better off, hell I think even Terry and Big Boy would agree.

So, for instance, heterosexual sex would be conservative, homosexuality would be socialist.

So, no...that is just sex, well different kinds of sex...but sex.

All taxation is socialism.

Kind of, its complicated

Abortions are socialism. ...No, they are wrong...I mean let's not argue the obvious, they may be "necessary", but abortions are terrible things but they are not government control (and please don't argue that government "control" of a women's body is not "Conservative" like there is not another "thing" inside that also needs "representation"

Christianity is conservative; (not to me, and hark...yes Conservatives have wrapped themselves in Christianity, to the determent of fiscal policy which is at the core of "Conservative") Islam is socialist. No really more Fascist.

A new set of golf clubs is conservative, etc. No, a set of golf clubs is a...purchase.

Jim G. said...

Eric! You had a point, then I thought about it and...no.

We started on Medical Malpractice reform. Rich...really, rich doctors are mostly a thing of the past as will be good medical care if "something" is not done, but I digress.

Well...not yet...Rich(ie), there is no other industry which has such a level of legal involvement nor is there an industry with such a insurance to profit ratio (my opinion).

So, Eric, a reasonable agrument is that the free market has arrived at such a 1itigation balance and "Conservative" should not complain (and so receiving your reponse via blackberry, I sweated the...damn he got me moment) until I realized that no...

See, the distortion is government induced, tort IS a function of government and it is its responsibility to repair the imbalance.

thanks for listening.