Jennifer Rubin at Commentary:

A friend points out a little nugget of absurdity and political mendacity in the Pelosi health-care bill. Remember Obama's effort to try a "test" for tort reform? (We don't actually need a test, since it has worked to lower medical malpractice coverage and help increase access to doctors in states that have tried it.) Well, Pelosi's bill has an anti-tort-reform measure. On pages 1431-1433 of the 1990 [page] spellbinder, there is a financial incentive for states to try "alternative medical liability laws." But look -- you don't get the incentive if you have a law that would "limit attorneys' fees or impose caps on damages."

That's what the trial lawyers get for the millions spent in supporting the Democratic party, and that's what tort "reform" in the Alice-in-Wonderland world of health-care legislation amounts to. States will be strong-armed into repealing existing caps in order to get the Fed's money. Sweet, huh? Well, unless you thought the aim was to reduce medical costs. No, this will go a long way toward ensuring that tort lawyers remain rich, malpractice insurance remains high, and unnecessary defensive medicine remains a fixture of the health-care system. Nice going, Nancy!