I've been doing some research on tort reform and I've decided that tort reform is for the best.
Since 1954, when Congress overruled a Supreme Court ruling, insurance companies have been exempt from anti-trust laws. I don’t know if Congress should have been exempt from anti-trust laws in the first place – it seems a little silly when you learn that only Congress and Major League Baseball are the chosen ones!
A recent academic study found that tort reform on the state level would probably help avert “local physician shortages,” and it also found no relationship between malpractice premiums and tort reform (in particular, damage caps) – but that doesn’t mean that tort reforms may not restrain exceedingly high premiums in some states, particularly those with very high premiums.
Throwing in their two cents, insurance companies stated in a letter addressed to Congress: “Every state has a comprehensive insurance code that governs the insurance industry, including subjecting the industry to antitrust enforcement.”
I think it's necessary to take this letter with a grain of salt. Why are the companies so intent on keeping tort reform from passing if there are already “comprehensive insurance codes?” Something's fishy here...
SOURCES:
Defensive Medicine and Disappearing Doctors
Bill Would End Antitrust Exemption for Insurance
Democrats want to revoke insurance's antitrust exemption in healthcare reform bill
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