Portman Amendment Will Reduce Frivolous Lawsuits, Make Health Care More Affordable, and Reduce the Deficit

Press Release

Today, U.S. Senator Rob Portman (R-Ohio), a member of the Senate Budget Committee, added an amendment to the Democratic budget being debated before the committee that would instruct the Senate Judiciary Committee to produce savings of over $60 billion through medical malpractice reform.

"President Obama's big-government health care bill was a missed opportunity to provide high-quality, accessible, and affordable health care to families struggling through a weak economy," said Portman. "By tackling our broken medical liability system head on, my amendment will reduce wasteful spending on defensive medicine, and in turn will free up resources that can be used to save patients money and shrink Washington's trillion-dollar deficits."

In the absence of medical malpractice reform, frivolous lawsuits will continue to incentivize defensive medicine and wasteful spending on unnecessary tests and studies. This yields higher premiums, fewer doctors, and more costs for the private sector and the government.

The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) has reported that medical malpractice reform could reduce the deficit by over $62 billion over 10 years. In addition, CBO notes that reform would reduce spending for health care services.

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