Bond raters warn that state's fiscal plan can't hinge on one-time cash infusions
The Morning Call, Allentown, PA - Aug 27, 2009
...Rendell said a downgrade in the Moody's Investors Service ''outlook'' for Pennsylvania illustrates how balancing the budget exclusively with one-time cash sources like the ''rainy day'' contingency fund and a medical malpractice fund surplus will only exacerbate the state's future financial problems...

Panel issues a caution on health care
Winston-Salem Journal, NC - Aug 27, 2009
...According to a study by two associate professors of economics at Stanford University, Daniel Kessler and Mark McClellan, the annual cost of defensive-medicine procedures in the United States could be as much as $178 billion -- or about $2,000 a year for the average family...

Editorial: Health care run by trial lawyers
The Washington Times, DC - Aug 27, 2009
...In state after state that has tried medical malpractice reform -- there are 25 in all -- costs have gone down, the number of doctors settling in the state has gone up, and patient services have improved...

Opinion - Richard Quint: Tort reform should come first
The Baxter Bulletin, Mountain Home, AR - Aug 27, 2009
...Those along with the ever-mounting frivolous lawsuits have made health care providers subject to ever mounting costs for malpractice insurance. Therefore, I think we should start with "tort reform" and closer monitoring of fraudulent claims...

No legal reform in health care proposals
West Virginia MetroNews Network, Charleston, WV - Aug 26, 2009
...Tort reforms are not part of the massive health care reform packages the U.S. Senate and U.S. House of Representatives will again take up next month on Capitol Hill...