Health care decisions loom as Congress returns this week
Lawrence Journal-World, Lawrence, KS (Associated Press) - Sep 7, 2009
...They believe government should help some middle-class people through subsidies for private coverage, but that a federal insurance plan isn’t needed. Some are willing to include malpractice changes that appeal to conservatives...

Health care reform debate awaits Congress
Pensacola News Journal, FL - Sep 7, 2009
...He and other Republicans, including Rep. Bill Posey, R-Rockledge, want the government to provide incentives for small businesses to provide health care to employees. They also favor limiting medical malpractice awards to lower malpractice insurance costs for doctors...

How much is a life worth? Debate rages on medical malpractice caps
Palm Beach Post, FL - Sep 6, 2009
...Still, a recent study by Americans for Insurance Reform, concluded that caps, like the ones enacted in Florida, had nothing to do with the drop in insurance rates for doctors. Instead, it found that such increases are cyclical and tied to how much insurance companies earn from investment income...

Editorial: Fix the costs first
The Buffalo News, NY - Sep 6, 2009
...That drives up the costs of care, as do the costs of malpractice insurance, which are, in part, a function of a justice system that is focused too much on finding deep pockets and too little on assigning appropriate responsibility for bad outcomes...

Opinion - Thomas Ducker and Michael McHale: Health reform: Restore patients' rights -- and responsibilities
Baltimore Sun, MD - Sep 6, 2009
...And, what happens to lawsuits and resulting malpractice insurance premiums when the patient is a willing, educated and active participant in planning the course of treatment? I suspect that both will decrease drastically...

Opinion - Mike Thomas: Medical malpractice needs an overhaul
Orlando Sentinel, FL - Sep 6, 2009
...This is not to say malpractice lawyers are evil. They simply are business people seeking to maximize profits. And they are not alone...

Opinion - Sherman Joyce: How to slash nation's health tab by $200 billion annually
Billings Gazette, Billings, WY - Sep 5, 2009
...If comprehensive health care reforms are to succeed, they must include liability reform. Certainly real victims of negligence must be fairly compensated, but public policy must discourage litigation that abuses our civil justice system and makes health care less accessible and more expensive.