President Bush Appears in Collinsville, IL, known as "Lawsuit Hell"

January 5, 2005

Some of the cost increases in our health care system are necessary and worthwhile. After all, research into new treatments requires major investments. World-class medical technology is expensive. In other words, to stay on the leading edge of medicine, it costs money. And I suspect somebody whose life has been saved by the latest technology is going to say that cost increase was necessary. But some costs are not necessary. And that's what the American people must understand, and members of the United States Senate and the United States House must understand.

Many of the costs that we're talking about don't start in an examining room or an operating room. They start in a courtroom. (Applause.) What's happening all across this country is that lawyers are filing baseless suits against hospitals and doctors. That's just a plain fact. (Applause.) And they're doing it for a simple reason. They know the medical liability system is tilted in their favor. Jury awards in medical liability cases have skyrocketed in recent years. That means every claim filed by a personal injury lawyer brings the chance of a huge payoff or a profitable settlement out of court. That's what that means. Doctors and hospitals realize this. They know it's expensive to fight a lawsuit, even if it doesn't have any merit. And because the system is so unpredictable, there is a constant risk of being hit by a massive jury award. So doctors end up paying tens of thousands, or even hundreds of thousands of dollars to settle claims out of court, even when they know they have done nothing wrong.

That's what's happening in the system today. It's a system that's just not fair. It's costly for the doctors; it's costly for small businesses; it's costly for hospitals; it is really costly for patients.

When those providing insurance have to pay the bills for enormous jury verdicts or out-of-court settlements, they have to raise premiums on physicians they cover. Specialists in high-risk practices like OB/GYN or neurosurgery are particularly vulnerable to lawsuits. So their premiums rise the fastest. You're about to hear a couple of stories of folks in this area who can testify to that fact.

Because junk lawsuits are so unpredictable, they drive up insurance costs for all doctors, even for those who have never been sued; even for those who have never had a claim against them. When insurance premiums rise, doctors have no choice but to pass some of the costs on to their patients. That means you're paying for junk lawsuits every time you go to see your doctor. That's the effect of all the lawsuits. It affects your wallet. If you're a patient, it means you're paying a higher cost to go see your doctor. If part of the national strategy has got to be to make sure health care is available and affordable, health care becomes less affordable because of junk lawsuits.

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