Surrounded by physicians in a community known for lawsuits, President Bush on Wednesday launched a campaign for limits on the money people can win in court.
"The United States Congress needs to pass real medical liability reform this year," said Bush, appearing on stage in a notoriously litigious community in Southern Illinois with rows of white-coated medical workers seated behind him, the dark-suited audience cheering for his cause.
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And some critics contend that the president has chosen the wrong culprit to blame. Jury awards don't drive up premiums, they say, insurance companies do.
In the past three years, in states that have enacted caps on damages -- Bush's remedy of choice -- some insurers still went on to try to raise rates, according to the Center for Justice & Democracy, an anti-cap organization based in New York.
And in California, which adopted caps on damages years ago, consumer advocates contend that rates didn't actually go down until the state also began demanding that insurers justify their increases and get government permission for them.
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