Obama opposes tort reform in health care

From the Washington Times:

President Obama can't fix health care without taking on trial lawyers. David Axelrod, the president's chief strategist, warned about "punishing health care costs" again on ABC's "This Week" on Sunday. "That's something that we have to deal with," he said. In a June 15 speech to the American Medical Association, Mr. Obama complained about how excessive defensive medicine drives up costs. This is a regular theme in White House talking points.

We agree there's a problem, but at heart and by training, Mr. Obama is a lawyer. That's why he won't address one major cause of the high costs of medical care: There are too many lawsuits, and they are too lucrative.

Mr. Obama is against capping malpractice awards to reflect actual damage done to patients. He is against doing away with strict liability rules, which means a vaccine maker or a doctor can be held liable for a bad outcome even if the doctor or manufacturer did not create the problem. . . . .