As reported by ABC News this afternoon, President Barack Obama has sent a letter to Democrat and Republican Congressional leaders today signaling that he’s open to supporting several provisions raised by GOP lawmakers during last week’s bipartisan health care reform summit, including medical malpractice reform.

Americans have heard this same rhetoric from President Obama before. During his September 9, 2009 address to Congress on health care reform, the President similarly indicated he was open to medical malpractice reform, stating:

“Now, I don’t believe malpractice reform is a silver bullet, but I’ve talked to enough doctors to know that defensive medicine may be contributing to unnecessary costs. So I’m proposing that we move forward on a range of ideas about how to put patient safety first and let doctors focus on practicing medicine.”

With the apparent support for this provision from President Obama, why wasn’t medical malpractice reform ultimately included in the Democrats’ health care bill?

This key reform provision was omitted as a result of the fervent opposition from Senate Democrat Leader Harry Reid (D-NV), who has accepted millions of dollars in campaign contributions from the trial lawyer lobby over the years.

“Before he sent this letter to Republican leaders today, did President Obama secure the support for these measures from leaders in his own party? Because unless the President has somehow managed to remove Harry Reid’s hand from the pockets of the trial lawyer lobby, it’s difficult to see how his words today are anything but the same rhetoric Americans heard six months ago,” said National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) spokesman Brian Walsh.

“The President might very well be sincere when he talks about bipartisan cooperation on issues like medical malpractice reform, however, Harry Reid most definitely is not. Reid has single-handedly blocked this important cost-saving effort from moving forward and he’s given no indication that he’s open to changing his mind,” Walsh continued.

“Medical malpractice reform, which would lower costs and help doctors and patients, is just one of several critical areas where Harry Reid consistently puts liberal special interests in Washington ahead of the views of his constituents in Nevada. This November, voters in the Silver State will have the opportunity to hold Harry Reid accountable for his obstructionism,” Walsh concluded.

Background Information:

• In September 2009, the Washington Post reported that Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-MT) “sidestepped the malpractice issue at the behest of Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.)”

• In October 2009, a new report from the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimates that limiting medical malpractice lawsuits could save the government as much as $54 billion over the next 10 years.

• On October 14, 2009, Reid spoke on the Senate floor explaining his opposition to medical malpractice reform and referred to the $54 billion that the CBO has estimated would be saved in the health care reform bill as a “very small percent.” Click here to watch.

• As reported by CNN, medical malpractice “laws would lower expenditures on government programs like Medicare and Medicaid by roughly $41 billion,” while “an additional $13 billion would be gained from taxable wages over 10 years as employers reduce the amount they spend on health care.”

• On October 20, 2009, The Hill reported that Harry Reid (D-NV) pressured doctors to back away from their push for medical malpractice reform in return for Reid’s offer to freeze cuts in Medicare payments. Click here to read the NRSC’s statement on this backroom deal for doctors and trial lawyers.

• On December 6, 2009, Reid blocked an amendment offered by his home-state colleague U.S. Senator John Ensign (R-NV), which would have placed limits on high trial attorney fees that contribute to litigation abuse and drive up the cost of health care and liability premiums. Remarkably, this amendment was taken directly from a Democratic amendment offered by U.S. Senator Edward Kennedy (D-MA) in 1995

• Reid, a trial lawyer himself, has long resisted medical malpractice legislation, even categorizing the crisis as “unfounded” in a Senate floor speech in 2006 during which he cited extensively from a book entitled “The Medical Malpractice Myth.”

• Lawyers and law firms have donated generously to Reid over the years, contributing more than $4 million to him throughout his political career, including over $2 million so far this cycle.