The buzz grows louder on a coming new Arkansas push for “tort reform” — more legislative limits on the ability to sue for damages, particularly medical malpractice, and perhaps a new, concerted push for election of judges who’ll ensure that any legislation is backed up by judges who hold corporatehood above personhood. Look, by the way, for Sen. Gilbert Baker to be in the thick of these issues as a paid hand, where he now must labor for free.

Just don’t believe them when they say “tort reform” lowers health costs. This has been disproved time and again. But there’s no better laboratory than Texas, where the system has been totally rigged in favor of corporations and insurance companies, from legislature to bench.

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From the Austin newspaper:

A new study found no evidence that health care costs in Texas dipped after a 2003 constitutional amendment limited payouts in medical malpractice lawsuits, despite claims made to voters by some backers of tort reform.

… The researchers’ findings come after a report last fall in which the Ralph Nader-founded consumer group Public Citizen said it found Medicare spending in Texas rose much faster than the national average after tort reform.

Facts mean nothing against blind faith.

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