Bush Priorities Are Clear – Reward Corporate Friends With Special Favors

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Bush Priorities Are Clear – Reward Corporate Friends With Special Favors

(Wednesday, January 31, 2006, Washington, DC)—In his State of the Union

address tonight, President W. Bush continued his habit of attacking the

civil justice system to provide yet another giveaway to his corporate

contributors. Specifically, Bush called for legislation that would do nothing

to

provide quality health care to the 45 million Americans who do not have access

or

lower health care costs but would pad the profits of his contributors in the

insurance industry.

“The civil justice system holds President Bush’s corporate contributors

accountable when they price-gouge consumers and health care providers or

knowingly market deadly drugs like Vioxx – it’s no wonder the President

attack a

system that allows any person to hold wrongdoers accountable,†said Jon Haber,

Chief Executive Officer of the Association of Trial Lawyers of America (ATLA).

“As is often the case with this Administration, they’ve distorted the truth

to fit their agenda – railing against the civil justice system to score

political points even when a report from his own Department of Justice says

he’s

wrong on the facts,†he continued.

The President’s claims that lawsuits are hindering the delivery of quality

health care is undermined by facts released by his own administration last

summer. _According to the U.S. Justice Department_

(http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/pub/pdf/fttv03.pdf) , federal tort (personal

injury) trials have decreased by

79 percent since 1985.

And a _recent survey of federal judges_

(http://www.businessinsurance.com/cgi-bin/news.pl?newsId=5365) – including

those appointed by Bush – found that

an “overwhelming majority†do not believe that so-called lawsuits are a

major problem in our civil justice system.

Attacking the civil justice system is nothing new for President Bush. Bush

has railed against “frivolous†or “junk†lawsuits more than 180 times

since

taking office, and has called for limiting the rights of people injured by

negligent corporations in his last three State of the Union addresses before

tonight. He has blamed trial lawyers and the civil justice system for everything

from problems with public schools to the rising federal budget deficit to

high health care costs.

But the facts tell a very different story.

Medical Malpractice

* A study of the medical malpractice insurance industry by the former

insurance commissioner of Missouri showed that over the last five years

insurance companies have been price-gouging doctors by drastically raising

their

insurance premiums by more than double, even though claims payments have been

flat, or in some cases decreasing.

* Despite the President’s assertion that lawsuits by injured patients

are driving health care costs, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) reported

that all medical malpractice costs amount to less than 2 percent of overall

health care spending in the United States.

* The insurance industry has even admitted that “tort reform†won’t

lower insurance rates. Dennis of the American Insurance Association has

said, “We have not promised price reductions with tort reform.†[Chicago

Tribune, 1/3/05] Although insurance reform is clearly necessary to stop the

price

gouging of doctors by insurance companies, Bush’s medical malpractice bill

has not one line about insurance reform.

* The medical malpractice bill in Congress gives sweeping immunity to

the pharmaceutical industry and endangers the public health. Corporations like

Merck, that knowingly produced the drug Vioxx, which killed as many as

55,000 Americans, would be given unprecedented and broad protection from

liability.