Chris Rizo: CBO stands by estimate tort reform will save taxpayers billions

"The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office says it stands by its analysis that medial malpractice limits would save American taxpayers billions of dollars.

"As Congress debates a national health care overhaul, the Congressional Budget Office director, Douglas Elmendorf, said as much as $54 billion could be saved over the next 10 years if Congress enacts legal reforms including a $250,000 cap on damages for pain and suffering and a $500,000 cap on punitive damages and restricting the statute of limitations on malpractice claims.

"Republicans, who have long called for legal reforms to help cut skyrocketing health care costs, used the CBO estimate as a rallying call for limits on medical malpractice lawsuits.

"But Democrats, who largely back President Barack Obama's effort to change how U.S. health insurance companies do business, balked at the CBO's estimate."