Florida's(R) Senate turns on jeb

[soup]

"TALLAHASSEE - The governor's latest attempt to have his way in the medical malpractice debate blew up the special legislative session Tuesday before it even began.

The spark was an e-mail Gov. Jeb Bush sent to political supporters accusing Republican senators of caving in to trial lawyers and "jeopardizing access to health care."

He hoped to exert enough pressure to prod the Senate into embracing his solution to soaring medical malpractice insurance rates: a $250,000 cap on pain and suffering awards.

Instead, Bush's message angered Senate Republicans so much they shut down negotiations Tuesday with the House and Lt. Gov. Toni Jennings.

>snip
Last week, King accused Bush of using medical malpractice to hammer trial lawyers, who supported his opponent in his reelection bid and are among the single biggest source of Democratic campaign cash.

"I almost feel like medical malpractice is just a vehicle for him to bash the trial lawyers," Jones said. "This has just gotten way out of hand. . . . If we cannot pass a bill, then he needs to look in the mirror and ask why."
http://www.sptimes.com/2003/07/09/State/Bush_s_rebuke_incense.shtml


There's so much money floating around this issue, it's hard to know who the 'good guys' are. Greed. Corruption. Personal agendas.

Insurance companies, trial lawyers, politicians, doctors, and jeb on a mission. Does anyone have info on insurance company donations to - or connections with - jeb? There's gotta be a reason he's put himself out there so far on this that he's alienating even his Republican Senate.

[Divernan]

1. This would be a campaign plank in his 2008 presidential candidacy

"I did it in Florida - now I'll do it for the whole country."
And of course, he'll get very fat contributions from the medical community and the insurance industry - two high rollers.

[Dudley_DUright]

2. It is sad that in FL today

the only people stopping Jeb and the insane repukes in the house are only slightly less insane repukes in the senate. The democrats have absolutely no voice at all in this state.

[Cha]

6. That sounds familiar!!

I have a friend in Florida who works in Tallahassee in the political spectrum and he says the Dems in Fla are pathetic.
This was back in 2002 when I was pumping him with questions about whether McBride would beat "devious"jeb.

What happened to all the Lawton Childs kinda People?

[Orangepeel]

3. Oh, I hope the Senate holds out!

The trial lawyers have done a piss poor job of defending themselves.

All the facts are on their side -- evidence that caps don't reduce premiums and evidence that the insurance agencies are cooking the books to hide obscene profits -- but they aren't handling the PR well. The insurance industry has doctors on the news, busses them up to Tallahassee to protest, and is generally kicking the lawyers' collective ass in the "court of public opinion."

I hope they know what they are doing.

[FlaGranny]

5. I'm not blaming the doctors too much

because they have a point. Their premiums are outrageous. The doctors are misguided, though, about the reasons for their high premiums. Many of them have fallen for the republican argument that the high premiums are the result of high jury awards.

[bandy]

4. Insurance Companies

rule in FL. All coverage (car, home, health) is going sky high. They have freedom to do as they please. Home coverage is rediculous, they either raise the rates or just cancel for no apparent reason. Our homeowners policy was 23 years old with not one claim and we were cancelled. They have Jeb's permission to do WHATEVER!

[Cha]

7. Yeah, I have a sister who lives in Gainseville and I've heard,,,,,

her talk about the exhorbitant insurance rates going up on her business!

I would think sooner or later it would break..and People will start rebelling!

Even repugs have to pay insurance, no?

[BeachBuckeye]

8. I agree completely

We have lived in our home for 7 years (a condo) with no claims whatsoever. Last month we were informed that our policy premium would more than double. We protested and were told "take it or leave it." Bush is in the pockets of the insurance companies. The medical interests here have taken to the airwaves and are saying that insurance costs and medical costs will "take a nosedive" if the $250,000 limit is imposed. Anybody want to bet on that?

[dmr]

9. Questioning Jeb on the witness stand?

I personally doubt this would even happen, though it would be nice ...

Malpractice insurance collision looms in state Legislature

By Mark Hollis
Tallahassee Bureau
Posted July 9 2003

TALLAHASSEE· Locked in a nasty war of words with Gov. Jeb Bush over medical malpractice legislation, state senators are preparing to take extraordinary steps -- such as taking testimony under oath and subpoenaing secret insurance industry documents -- to get to the bottom of insurance premium rate increases in a special session that opens today.

"We're not interested in a witch hunt. I'm not trying to embarrass anybody," said Senate President Jim King. "But the more we dig into this issue, the more confused we get. Sooner or later, we must have some good, factual information to work from."

- snip -

Key senators are talking openly about calling Bush and Lt. Gov. Toni Jennings into questioning on a witness stand to explain their motivations for supporting new malpractice-lawsuit limits. In turn, the governor has shown his frustration over senators' resistance to his call for a $250,000 cap on how much malpractice victims can win in court to compensate them for pain and suffering.

Just this week, Bush blasted Republican senators for siding with trial lawyers, who oppose such caps.

More ...

Sun-Sentinel

[soup]

10. Just found this- Tar and Feathers, anyone?

Governor wants Pruitt & Co.'s vote, or no open-heart surgery for Martin

June 26, 2003

Gov. Jeb Bush's threat to use the needs of ill Floridians as a weapon to force members of the Florida Senate to accept his position on the medical malpractice insurance issue is a shocking example of politics at its worst.

The fact is, Gov. Bush no longer can pretend to occupy the moral high ground on an issue as complex as medical malpractice insurance, for which no certain cures have yet been discovered.

Bush has threatened to veto a bill allowing open-heart surgery at Martin Memorial Medical Center and Indian River Memorial Medical Center unless state Sen. Ken Pruitt, R-Port St. Lucie drops his opposition to a liability cap of $250,000 on all malpractice claims for pain and suffering. Pruitt had filed a bill that set the cap at $800,000 per person, which the Senate overwhelmingly approved — but with a lowered $6 million for non-economic damages.

Sen. Pruitt could live with that compromise, the governor apparently could not.

Unquestionably the malpractice insurance issue has reached a crisis stage. Rising premiums are forcing physicians to drastically alter their practice of medicine, in some cases even moving out of the state and taking ever larger amounts of physician and hospital revenue. Insurance industry spokesmen blame the increases on rising costs of jury verdicts. But the facts do not support that argument in Florida, where juries have tended to be conservative in their awards.
more:
http://www1.tcpalm.com/tcp/the_news_editorials/article/0,1651,TCP_1033_2067728,00.html

Has it really gotten That ugly? Did jeb actually say he would veto a bill allowing open-heart surgery at the hospital if Senator Pruitt didn't toe the line?

I haven't been following this closely. There's so many things going on, it's hard to keep up with 1/4 of it, let alone find the time to try to do something about it. I don't have the answers to this issue, but do think that doctors, and their patients, are really stuck in a lose-lose situation in the middle of it all.

It's piqued my curiosity and my anger, especially after reading this.

From the sound of the other posts here, the 'follow the money' trail definitely leads not to the trial lawyers, but to the insurance companies.

[dfong63]

11. aren't they putting the cart before the horse?

if the issue is sky-high premiums, why are they capping the awards instead of the premiums?

if they are so confident that capping awards will lead to lowered premiums, then why not put it in writing in the law, that the premiums have to go down to {some reasonable level}, or else the cap will be abolished?

may those who vote to cap the awards, become victims of botched surgery themselves.

[madfloridian]

12. Soup...read this from Troxler about Jeb's pigheadedness on this.

I posted earlier today. http://www.sptimes.com/2003/07/09/Columns/Be_it_wrong_or_right_.shtml

SNIP...."Meanwhile, Bush is turning the e-mail apparatus of the Florida Republican Party itself, like a destructo-ray, upon those Republican members of the Legislature who have offended him.

He is calling them names, printing their phone numbers, trying to whip up public anger against them.

It must be a heck of a feeling, being a Republican senator, having worked your whole political career to bring about a Republican majority in Florida, and then seeing your own party machinery used to vilify you under the direction of a governor for whom you broke your back in the election...."

[soup]

13. Troxler pegged this one.

Thanks for the link. There's just no reasoning with jeb on this, is there?

Checked out the myflorida.com site and found this:

"If they don't get it right, I'll ask them to come back," Bush said. "They'll get it right eventually."

Advocates for malpractice victims have complained that Bush's proposal is unfair to victims and would close off access to the courts. They also question whether it would lower rates, despite the requirement that insurance companies file for a 20 percent decrease in premiums. They note that the requirement has loopholes allowing companies to avoid the rollback if it prevents them from making a profit.
http://www.myflorida.com/myflorida/government/mediacenter/news/recent_news03/insurance_crisis.html


also found this earlier today:

"The legislature, by virtue of its ability to write the regulatory laws, is equally influential. As a result, the insurance industry consistently shows up as one of the largest contributors to Florida legislative campaigns, to Gallagher and to political party coffers. According to the state's division of lobbyist registration:
•
There are 94 insurance industry lobbyists representing 135 insurance entities to lobby Florida's 180 legislators.
•
The insurance industry pumped $2.3 million in campaign contributions to legislators in the 2002 election cycle alone.
•
Twelve legislators, all of them members of key insurance committees, reported on financial disclosure forms that they had at least one financial tie to the industry."
from:
http://216.239.39.104/search?q=cache:KpDAW6QUlEUJ:www.palmbeachpost.com/business/content/business/insurance_lobby.html+florida+insurance+lobby&hl=en&ie=UTF-8

on edit: sorry about the link widening the page- had to draw it up from the cache at Google. I need a very quick lesson in shortening links.

[madfloridian]

14. Try this site for shortening links.

http://makeashorterlink.com/about.php

There is also Tiny Url, but I have trouble getting the links to turn blue and be clickable when I use it. Shorter link is easy and free.