From the Los Angeles Times:

President Obama took both Republicans and normally supportive patients’ rights advocates by surprise this week when he voiced support for a national limit on medical malpractice lawsuits:

“I’m willing to look at other ideas to bring down costs” besides repealing his healthcare overhaul, Obama said in his State of the Union address, including “medical malpractice reform to rein in frivolous lawsuits.”

The president’s words breathed new life into the often discussed but never enacted Republican initiative. Last week, House Republicans held a hearing to decry the cost of medical malpractice lawsuits, which they blame for rising healthcare costs. They introduced a bill to set a $250,000 limit on damages for pain and suffering caused by “any healthcare goods or services or any medical product.”

Read the full article here on the Los Angeles Times website.