As Senate Democrats prepare to raise taxes, slash Medicare benefits, and burden states with billions in new Medicaid costs in order to soften the bottom line of their new health care bill, the American public continues to clamor for something they did not include in their bill: Medical malpractice reform. A new poll from the Associated Press shows that 54 percent support limits on medical lawsuits, with support cutting across party political lines.
The Congressional budget office estimated possible savings of $54 billion over ten years from this single, simple reform, which costs the government nothing to implement.
Medical malpractice reform is far more popular than the Democrats’ underlying health care reform bill, which only received 41 percent support in the poll (PDF of the results is here). Also note that this is a poll of 1,500 adults — not of likely or registered voters.
