Bean Set to Vote Interests of Trial Lawyers Over Interest of Constituents

March 11, 2010 | Filed Under Budget, Campaign Finance, Cook County, Democrats/Leftists, Economy/Finances, Elections, Government, Government, Corruption, House of Representatives, Illinois, Illinois State Government, Joe Walsh, Melissa Bean, State Government, Taxes, Warner Todd Huston |

From the Walsh for Congress campaign…

(LAKE ZURICH, IL)– With the Obamacare legislation nearing a vote, Rep. Melissa Bean (D-8) remains intent on representing the special interests that control her political party as opposed to voting the interests of 8th district families.

Bean, who received more than $31,000 in campaign contributions from trial lawyers during her 2008 re-election campaign, is set to vote for a federal government takeover of health care that, among other things, fails to meaningfully address increasing health care costs directly attributable to frivolous lawsuits and excessive jury awards.

“True health care reform requires tort reform,” said Joe Walsh, Bean’s Republican challenger.

“Unfortunately, Melissa Bean is in the pocket of trial lawyers. She has put the interests of her large campaign donors ahead of supporting simple reforms such as caps on non-economic damages that would make health care coverage more affordable for 8th district families.”

Walsh cited a U.S. Department of Health & Human Services report that concluded excessive damage awards from medical malpractice lawsuits add between $70 and $126 billion to the cost of health care borne by Americans each year.

Experts say national tort reform is estimated to save $92 to $207 billion dollars per year on health care costs. Yet, the trillion dollar Obamacare legislation provides only $25 million to ‘projects’ and ’studies’ looking at tort reform.

“The time for ’studies’ is over,” said Walsh. “We need action on tort reform. This problem of lawsuit abuse is particularly acute in Illinois where medical malpractice insurance premiums in Cook County, for example, are more than twice as expensive as rates in Indiana,” said Walsh.

“The failure of the Obamacare legislation to address tort reform and Melissa Bean’s failure to embrace common sense reforms that address the problem of lawsuit abuse highlight once again why we cannot afford Obamacare and we cannot afford to have Melissa Bean in Congress.”

Joe Walsh is the Republican candidate running against Democrat incumbent Melissa Bean in 2010 for the Illinois 8th Congressional District. Born and raised in North Barrington, a policy advocate, teacher, and business entrepreneur, Joe has spent his adult life advancing limited-government and conservative principles. For more information on Joe Walsh and his campaign visit

www.joewalshforcongress.com

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Tags: Publius+Forum, Warner+Todd+Huston, Illinois, Red+County, Election, Cook+County, Congress, GOP, Republicans, Joe+Walsh

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