The Manhattan Institute’s Center for Legal Policy has released a new primer on medical malpractice reform that is worth a read if you haven’t been following the issue. The report argues that tort reform would indeed take a bite out of medical costs, against the arguments advanced by the trial lawyers’ main lobbying group. That case was better made by last week’s Congressional Budget Office analysis, which estimates a $54 billion reduction in government medical costs over ten years.

Although lawsuit reform will by no means solve the problem of medical costs, it is a relatively painless part of the solution, representing the low-hanging fruit in the process of “bending the cost curve.” Given that it has been tried in many states — including not just Texas and Mississippi but also California — the arguments that it will stop patients from getting justice are so much scare-mongering.