Texas: Vote Yes on 12
Comprehensive lawsuit reform passed by the legislature in June has been signed into law by Governor Rick Perry. This legislation will help keep doctors in private practice and in clinics as well as keep hospitals and clinics open. The reforms were passed because fully half the counties in Texas do not have a pediatrician and half do not have an ObGYN. Doctors were leaving the practice of medicine and particularly leaving high-risk practices because they could not afford the liability insurance.
Widely regarded as model reform legislation for the rest of the country, these changes will help bring needed fairness and balance to our civil litigation system. The measures passed will not limit economic damages nor will they limit medical cost reimbursements.
However, those personal injury lawyers we see advertising regularly on television are already mounting plans to challenge these important reforms. They would like nothing more than to stall if not derail the measure’s reasonable limits on non-economic damages in healthcare lawsuits. Voters can put that uncertainty to rest on September 13.
On that date – Saturday, September 13 – Texas voters will be asked to approve an amendment to the state constitution that validates the Legislature’s work in reining in excessive non-economic damages, which are hurting Texas doctors and undermining Texas healthcare. This amendment is resolution number 12 – Proposition 12.
In states like Texas that have no limit on non-economic or subjective damages, doctors pay higher rates for liability insurance, which means higher healthcare costs for patients and consumers. Proposition 12 would help ensure lower liability insurance costs for doctors and hospitals, and restore confidence and security in our healthcare system.
To support this critically needed amendment, a broad-based coalition – Yes on 12 – has come together to win voter approval of Proposition 12. At Yes on 12, we know this campaign will be hard fought. Personal injury lawyers and their front groups will spare no cost to maintain their stranglehold on our legal system in Texas. We expect they will spend as much as $15 million on their campaign of deceit.
Yes on 12 is ready to counter and correct their misinformation. We are also hard at work building the largest, most diverse coalition to ever support a constitutional amendment in Texas. Already more than 250 groups and organizations have endorsed Yes on 12 – and the coalition is growing daily.
Proposition 12 will help Texas address what is nothing less than a medical crisis in our state. A YES vote on Proposition 12 is a vote for affordable and accessible healthcare for all Texans. If Proposition 12 is not passed, hospitals and nursing homes will continue to close, specialist physicians will continue to leave our state, and the doctors who remain will have to continue to limit their services.
On September 13, Texans have the opportunity to send a message to personal injury lawyers: Texans want affordable and accessible healthcare. We want to stop healthcare lawsuit abuse in Texas.
Join us in supporting Proposition 12 for the future health of Texas healthcare.
