Here it comes...tort deform from the Tennessee Senator Bill Frist, the Republican heart surgeon in charge of the Senate Republicans. Being a doctor, the first item on his agenda is to help out all his physician friends who helped to raise $124,000,000 for the National Republican Senatorial Committee, which helped Frist and Co. takeover of the Senate. See Yahoo's News' Fund Raising for GOP Pays Off for Frist. In his election in 1998, according to Open Secret's Industry Contributions list, Frist's top contributors were Health Professionals giving $1,019,478, also in the top groups were Hospitals/Nursing Homes $255,125, Insurance $173,006, and Pharmaceuticals/Health Products $172,366.

I told you it was coming, but didn't know it'd be quite this obvious. See my posts from 11/8/02 and 11/16/02 for more information. Also, add to that post the fact that Managed care insurers' profits are up. The USA Today article explains how managed care insurers had a healthy 2002 while forcing customers into double-digit premium increases. The article states that "With the exception of Cigna, third-quarter earnings were up 47% on average for 11 major insurers..." and yet "Premiums are expected to rise an average of 15.4% this year....." It should not be any wonder then why employers and other businesses that buy health insurance often support medical malpractice deform, but do they really think that healthcare costs will go down with it and that these insurers will reduce their premiums? They just increased earnings 47% and still raise premiums 15.4%!