Train Tuesdays
As I’m sure U.S. readers are aware, there are health care bills moving through the House and Senate. Unfortunately, neither bill under consideration contains any type of tort reform.
Matthew Yglesias, a progressive blogger, claims that medical malpractice reform won’t reduce health care costs. But shouldn’t it, at least to some extent? If pain and suffering awards are capped at some reasonable amount, then shouldn’t doctors’ insurance expenses go down? Is the problem that those savings are not passed on to the patient?
The Congressional Budget Office finds that tort reform would at least save the government something ($54 billion over 10 years). A doctor blogger thinks it will save even more by reducing defensive medicine. Defensive medicine is when doctors and medics order unnecessary tests and hospitalizations out of fear of being sued.
In any case, I still hope that comprehensive tort reform passes. I would think people could agree on a reasonable amount at which to cap pain and suffering awards.
But what does this have to do with steam trains? This is, after all, a Train Tuesday post.
Many operators of steam excursions have been forced to shut down due to the increasing cost of liability insurance. The Frisco 1522 site explains:
Insurance since 9-11 has gone thru the roof and into orbit. In 1990, BN required $10 million in liability insurance, but by 2000, this requirement had gone to $50 Million. Given our court system and jury awards, the increase was not out of line, given what our society has caused to happen.
Liability concerns are widely believed to be a main reason behind Norfolk Southern’s decision to end their steam operations program which operated steam excursions until 1994.
Any reform should not just be limited to medical malpractice lawsuits, but should cover non-medical lawsuits as well. I’d like to see no more historic steam preservation efforts shut down because they can’t afford skyrocketing liability insurance. In fact, I’d like to see some new steam operations start up. Perhaps, needed reform can be delivered.