President, Republicans clash at health-care summit
Manitowoc Herald Times Reporter, Manitowoc, WI (Associated Press) - Feb 26, 2010
...Any skepticism about reaching broad consensus was vindicated as soon as the first Republican spoke — in opposition to the mammoth bills that have passed the House and Senate. Alexander, of Tennessee, said Congress and the administration should start over and take small steps, including medical malpractice reform...

No clear winner in seven-hour gabfest
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, PA (Politico) - Feb 26, 2010
...Why can't we do something about the biggest cost driver, which is medical malpractice and the defensive medicine that doctors practice? Let's start with a clean sheet of paper where we can actually get somewhere and we can get it into law here in the next several months," Boehner said...

Health summit shows divergent views
USA Today - Feb 26, 2010
...Obama: "I've already said that I think this is a real issue. I disagree with John Boehner. John, when you say that it is the single biggest driver of medical inflation, that is just not the case."...

In gamble, Obama and Dems prepare to ram health care through
Fox News (Associated Press) - Feb 26, 2010
...Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., who has a track record of working across the political aisle, said he would try to broaden common ground. Obama said he was willing to incorporate medical malpractice changes into his plan...

Health summit is a failure as President Obama vows to move forward on reform
New York Daily News, NY - Feb 26, 2010
...Obama insisted that he heard some GOP ideas - such as on medical malpractice reform - that he might be able to embrace. But he was adamant he won't return to the drawing board...

Factbox: Areas of agreement, disagreement at health summit
Post Chronicle, Denville, NJ - Feb 26, 2010
...* Republicans said Democrats were only "paying lip service" to medical malpractice reform. * Democrats said placing caps on non-economic awards was not the answer and argued in favor of incentives to states to reduce the need for lawsuits...

Fact check: Dueling polls and dubious stats
Forbes.com (Associated Press) - Feb 26, 2010
...The Congressional Budget Office estimated the government could save $41 billion over 10 years by capping jury awards in medical malpractice lawsuits - an idea promoted by Republicans but opposed by trial lawyers...

Malpractice liability a hot topic at health care summit
Law.com - Feb 26, 2010
Thursday's televised "summit" on health care proved to be a new forum in which Republican lawmakers could press again for limits on medical malpractice awards, and another opportunity for the plaintiffs bar to play defense...

Race to pin blame for high health-care costs
Wall Street Journal, NY - Feb 26, 2010
...And doctors say they are strong-armed by insurance monopolies and hampered by medical malpractice costs. In the rush to point fingers, few solutions are emerging...

Editorial: What's next for ObamaCare?
Santa Cruz Sentinel, CA - Feb 26, 2010
...But will the president take a smaller plan and be able to count it a political success? One signal that he might came during Thursday's session when Obama said he wants to change how the United States deals with medical malpractice lawsuits -- long a Republican argument for why health care is so expensive...

Editorial: No cure in sight: White House summit failed to move the ball on health care bill
New York Daily News, Feb 26, 2010
...Channel whatever bipartisan energy there is on Capitol Hill into three bills, four bills, five bills - manageable and understandable pieces of legislation that build on shared ideas like selling insurance across state lines, improving preventive care, attacking medical malpractice lawsuits and giving health care consumers a much greater role in decision-making...

Will the summit impact health reform?
CBS News - Feb 25, 2010
...But there's one big Republican priority that's not in the plan - major medical malpractice reform...

Obama open to curbing medical malpractice suits
BusinessWeek (Associated Press) - Feb 25, 2010
President Barack Obama says he wants to change how the United States deals with medical malpractice lawsuits, although he says Republicans are overstating its effects on the health care system...

Opinion - Katie Connolly: Health-care summit: The most fascinating boring day ever
Newsweek - Feb 25, 2010
...Perhaps the only issue where there was some meaningful movement was tort reform: despite Dick Durbin's eloquent takedown of caps on payouts, Obama believes Republicans have some good ideas and will instruct Democrats to work on them...