The Wisconsin Senate will vote on Tuesday (Oct. 27) on legislation that will drive up health care costs by expanding medical liability. Senate Bill 203 allows “loss of society and companionship” damages for adult children and their parents in medical malpractice cases.

To see read WCJC’s full press release, read here.

As the debate over health care reform continues in Washington, the issue of medical liability is also gaining quite a bit of attention.

That’s because the Congressional Budget Office, the non-partisan research arm of Congress, issued an analysis of proposals aimed at limiting costs to related to medical malpractice liability. The CBO found that by implementing certain medical liability measures, federal spending would be reduced by $41 billion over ten years and reduce the federal deficit by $54 billion.

In addition to the CBO’s finding, the Pacific Research Institute released a study regarding the costs of medical malpractice liability. According to the study, medical malpractice tort losses totaled $5.894 billion in 2008. For more information on the costs associated with medical liability lawsuits, please visit the Pacific Research Institute’s Website.