It’s never a surprise when the Democrat Congress pulls a muscle carrying water for the trial bar. But now the lawsuit obsessed pairing is demanding that states embrace their agenda or pay a price.

The evidence is buried in Nancy Pelosi’s 1,900 page health care bill.  Why so long? Capitol Confidential at Andrew Breitbart’s Big Government has a theory:

It is much easier to dispense goodies to favored interest groups if they are surrounded by a lot of legislative legalese. For example, check out this juicy morsel to the trial lawyers (page 1431-1433 of the bill):

Section 2531, entitled “Medical Liability Alternatives,” establishes an incentive program for states to adopt and implement alternatives to medical liability litigation. [But]…… a state is not eligible for the incentive payments if that state puts a law on the books that limits attorneys’ fees or imposes caps on damages.

The trial-lawyer majority in Congress is not only telling state’s how to do their own business, they’re banning a proven savings method simply because the trial bar doesn’t approve. The trial lawyers majority has exposed their true colors:  opposition to any meaningful reform of the medical malpractice system.

Since when do state’s need approval from Congress to try to control health care costs or run their own legal systems?

Medical malpractice reform is a proven two-fer.  It creates a more rational court system and could achieve huge health care savings according to the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office. From the Washington Post on October 9, 2009:

Lawmakers could save as much as $54 billion over the next decade by imposing an array of new limits on medical malpractice lawsuits, congressional budget analysts said today — a substantial sum that could help cover the cost of President Obama’s overhaul of the nation’s health system.

New research shows that legal reforms would not only lower malpractice insurance premiums for medical providers, but would also spur providers to save money by ordering fewer tests and procedures aimed primarily at defending their decisions in court, Douglas Elmendorf, director of the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, wrote in a letter to Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah).

Perhaps the lesson here should be never be surprised when Congress torpedoes a good idea - especially when the trial bar opposes the good idea.