Proposition 12

This proposition is on the next ballot and will be voted on this month.. I
see this bill as a furthur attack on the meager Patients Bill of Rights
legislation that we have in place at this time.. Although this bill is not
directly affecting us as motorcycle enthusiasts, it is a furthur
infringement by the insurance companies into the area of consumers abilities
for recourse.. The bill does nothing to impact the bad doctors nor the
influence of the insurance companies in their decisions in our treatment..
Furthur, the bill does impact the extent of the consumers recovery, when
those bad decisions affect the quality of treatment and the repercusions of
malpractice.. This bill should be defeated in this so-called special ballot
and the Patients Bill of Rights legislation should immediately be
strengthened.. Passage of this bill will ultimately impact the Vehicle
insurance legislation by enabling precedents to be set that will minimize
the settlements and coverages of all our insurance costs.. Think about it..
This bill has been devised and authored by lobbyist of the insurance
industry.. Endorsed by Rick Perry and other legislators who depend on the
companies for much of their campaign support.. I appeal to you all to vote
"NO" on this legislation..

Your Friend in Irving
Bill Walker

 

Your vote does count.. Examination of this bill does nothing more than limit
the amounts the insurance company is exposed to.. The cup of coffe analogy
is not applicable although the companies use that one to the max.. The
effects of this bill will be more applicable to the negligent malpractice
when a questionable doctor performs a surgery to remove your testicles when
you suffer from appendicitis.. Although you are affected for the rest of
your life, his carrier will only pay the max allowed .. The bill does
nothing to cause this doctor consequences to affect the rest of his life..
All this bill amounts to is to furthur limit the exposure of the insurance
companies and to furthur shield bad doctors .. When the bill includes
provisions for the Medical field to police their own and protect the public
from Bad Practitioners of medicine, I could support it.. As it is written,
it only penalizes the consumer and victims of bad doctors..

Your friend in Irving
Bill Walker

 

Absolutely not... The cost of our premiums has very little to do with the
amounts of settlements.. Our premiums are high because we were foolish
enough to buy into the mandated insurance laws that were passed without
mandating the insurance companies to provide "affordable" premiums .. The
high profile and frivolous "cup of coffee" type analogies are used by the
companies to emphasize the reasons for their obscene rates for coverage..
When one examines the percentages of those kinds of settlements, the picture
changes radically.. Any law that addresses ONLY the consumer limits and does
not mandate the supply side, that is a law that requires closer
examination.. That is exactly what this bill is doing and will affect all
areas of our insurance coverages in this state, very shortly..

Your friend in Irving
Bill Walker

 

100% inaccurate. Insurance rates are going up because insurance company
profits are down due to bad investments on their part. Insurance
payouts haven't spiked, yet premiums have. It's purely a profit motive.

Not hardly.

Charles

 

Bill,
I take exception to your statement 'Although this bill is not
directly affecting us as motorcycle enthusiasts' If a 4 wheeler crashes us
no matter how much suffering or lost of quality of life we will be limited
to $250K in recovery for pain and suffering. I don't know about you but
250K wouldn't last long if you lose and arm, leg or are in a wheelchair for
the rest of your life because of someone else's error. I was in favor of
this proposition until I got into the details of it and while I think most
lawyers should be outlawed I will be voting against prop 12 and encourage
everyone I know to vote no on 12. Now vote yes on 19 and help out a bunch
of disabled folks freeze their local taxes.

Marty


This proposition is on the next ballot and will be voted on this month.. I
see this bill as a furthur attack on the meager Patients Bill of Rights
legislation that we have in place at this time.. Although this bill is not
directly affecting us as motorcycle enthusiasts, it is a furthur
infringement by the insurance companies into the area of consumers abilities
for recourse.. The bill does nothing to impact the bad doctors nor the
influence of the insurance companies in their decisions in our treatment..
Furthur, the bill does impact the extent of the consumers recovery, when
those bad decisions affect the quality of treatment and the repercusions of
malpractice.. This bill should be defeated in this so-called special ballot
and the Patients Bill of Rights legislation should immediately be
strengthened.. Passage of this bill will ultimately impact the Vehicle
insurance legislation by enabling precedents to be set that will minimize
the settlements and coverages of all our insurance costs.. Think about it..
This bill has been devised and authored by lobbyist of the insurance
industry.. Endorsed by Rick Perry and other legislators who depend on the
companies for much of their campaign support.. I appeal to you all to vote
"NO" on this legislation..

Your Friend in Irving
Bill Walker

 

Hear, hear.

 

I agree with you wholeheartedly concerning the lawyers.. I have heard that
the founding fathers wouldn't allow them to leave the boats when they tried
to come into this country.. LOL.. Be that as it may.. I also support
proposition 19.. Proposition 12 is a monster in disguise and unless one
reads all the fine print, it will come back to haunt us shortly.. See you at
the polls..

Your friend in Irving
Bill Walker

 

You should take a closer look at this bill.. This thing is designed to
weaken and defang the already atrocity of a Patients Bill of Rights
legislation that we have.. The infringement on the other coverages like the
liability for vehicles are in place already.. This bill strengthens the
cause for limited recovery.. It is specifically directed to the advantage of
the insurance companies.. The doctors are secondary .. The passing of this
bill will not lessen the premiums now being charged for the doctors by the
insurance companies..No matter what Rick Perry is claiming in his
commercials.. Examine the bill carefully and explain to me how it benefits
or protects consumers in any way.. This bill is directly beneficial to the
insurance companies..

Your friend in Irving
Bill Walker

 

For your sake, I hope you vote "yes" to this bill, it passes, and
you're the first one to go in for day surgery with removal of skin
cancer on your shoulder and end up having the doctor whack off your
leg instead. After that, then come back and talk to us about how
"good" this bill is.

Kinda reminds me of Terrell Bolton these days. Only a year ago, he had
officers under him getting people fired from their jobs for no reason
and ruining their reputations in their professional fields. When it
was pointed out to him time and time again, he didn't care. Now the
worthless jerk-off is out of a job himself and complaining/crying
about how the City of Dallas fired him without cause and ruined his
reputation. I guess "what goes around, comes around" does it in such a
way that it's not fun.

Oh, one more thing, I'd like to have you (or anyone else who thinks
anything you said is correct) to point out a single bill/law/proposal
which lowered insurance premiums and allowed people to get insurance
who wasn't able to before...

<tick/tock...tick/tock...tick/tock>

 

No kidding. Remember the Tobacco 5? The lawyers who split $3 Billion for
representing Texas against Big Tobacco? These guys gave $250,000 EACH
to help defeat Prop. 12. One of these skunks, Harold Nix, is from my
hometown. He holds the record for filing the largest class-action
lawsuit in the history of Texas.

This really boils down to a Republican vs Democrat pissing contest. The
crooked Republicans are controlled by the insurance lobby, the crooked
Democrats are controlled by the trial lawyers. The average citizen
caught in the middle suffers while the viscious cycle of skyrocketing
premiums and frivolous lawsuits continues.

Proposition 12 will not limit real economic damages, like lost wages and
medical expenses.


AT

 

Advocates for proposition 12 like to point to the Coffee episode as an
example of a frivolous lawsuit.. They fail to mention, first of all, the
suit occured in Arizona, with an altogether set of laws.. That suit, more
than likely would never be accepted before the court system in Texas..
Secondly, the suit is between a consumer and a restaurant chain and has
nothing to do with the medical industry.. In Texas, the hospitals and
doctors are insulated from lawsuit unless there is permanent injury or
death.. Even then, there has to be clear and undisputed evidence of
malpractice.. or intent on the part of the hospital and/or doctor.. The
hospitals have limited liability due to the fact that all the doctors are
considered "sub-contractors".. The hospitals deny responsibility for their
actions.. Proposition 12 is being sold as the remedy for many of our
problems in healthcare in Texas.. That is false and a lie.. In actuality,
proposition 12 is furthur insulation for an already highly protected
insurance industry as well as our healthcare providers.. Vote against this
proposition..

Your friend in Irving
Bill Walker

 

Obviously you have no knowledge of this bill.. There is nothing in it to
curtail premium costs .. This bill in its entirety does nothing to benefit
consumers.. The lame defenses for this proposition try to make the case that
"frivolous" lawsuits account for rising insurance costs.. That is not the
truth and we are being lied to by the insurance companies and Rick Perry,
yet again...

 

And you obviously have no desire to understand the dynamics of the
situation. While the bill doesn't address premium costs per se, it does
attempt to reduce malpracice insurance costs, which in turn COULD lead
to cheaper health care all around.


This bill in its entirety does nothing to benefit

Good, conscientious doctors pay enormous malpractice insurance premiums,
in part because of the enormous settlements handed out. These good
doctors, and thier incompetent colleagues, pass the costs of thier
malpractice premiums on to you, the health care consumer.


That is not the

 

Agreed. Prop 12 sounds like a good idea, and it is aimed at a real
problem, but it is a very flawed solution.

Wanna run for governor? ;-)

Amen.

--
Albert Nurick


'97 Honda Pacific Coast
'93 Honda Helix
'87 Honda Helix

 

Based on what? As I've pointed out MANY times before, people like to
say laws which reduce liability on the part of insurance companies and
bad people they insure would likely reduce rates and costs...but
hasn't a single person given anything to hold that up.

Those poor people...

My homeowners insurance has skyrocketed and I haven't had a claim.

My auto insurance has skyrocketed and I haven't had a claim.

Can you point me to someone that I might be able to pass my costs
onto? Better yet, can you point me to a law which protects me against
outrageous price hikes without merit?

Now, you said "frivolous lawsuits" earlier...can you cite one which
has had an "enormous settlement"?

Defined in legal terms, a "frivolous lawsuit" is one which is brought
without merit AND is meant to harrass or cause disruption.

In case you're unaware of this, there are already hefty penalties for
bringing "frivolous lawsuits" against someone/some company. The judge
has the discretion for finding the suit as "frivolous" and this is
with/without the motion filed by either party. If the suit is not
withdrawn after the judge determines such, the penalties begin and can
be severe.

As I've said before, a "big" judgement/settlement doesn't make a case
"frivolous".

 

You have the comprehension skills of a 5 year old, Bill. Either that,
are you're lying just to perpetuate your trailer-trash redneck routine.


His input a year ago

Yeah, right. Get a job a buy a clue.

It rapidly deteriorated, if you recall.. If you

 

I sure am glad you cleared up any misunderstanding there. I, for one,
would've liked it had you simply explained your position and views on
this. Instead, you simply fall right back into your ad hominem
(there's that term again) attacks of others when you don't have
anything to contribute.

Hmm, it would seem you need to buy a better spell checker.

But, thank you very much for your input on this. It would seem to fall
right into what was just said about you.

 

There's that word AGAIN!

Would SOMEONE...PULEEZE tell me how they determined a lawsuit as
"frivolous" when there is an award from a malpractice suit and no
motion was made by either side to determine such ruling?

Just name me ONE case which someone was awarded a judgement on a
malpractice case which was considered and ruled as "frivolous".

People have become too comfortable with using that word to describe
their disgust for a case which someone received a large
judgement/settlement. That does NOT make it "frivolous". Prick Perry
and the rest of those goobers in Austin can't call any case
"frivolous" when an award was made and no motion has been made.

These are lawyers who make their money by representing their client's
best interest. Do you really believe that if they COULD get out of
paying the judgement by having the case ruled "frivolous" they would?
Why don't they? They appeal on everything else, why not go the easiest
way out and have the plaintiff punished at the same time?

 

Although the commercials being run at this time addresses the malpractice
and healthcare aspects of this proposition, the deceptive communication is
designed to mislead the consumer.. My point in the outset of this post was
to point out the implications disguised in the body of the legislation is
to undermine the very defective Patients Bill of Rights legislation..
Impact on other insurance coverages will also occur.. The emphasis is to
reduce insurance costs is not only misleading, it is an outright lie.. Rick
Perry is again misleading his constituents by endorsing this legislation..
This bill is designed to enhance the bottom line for the insurance
companies.. As Stephan has pointed out, it also enhances the power of
legislators and destroys the adversarial sytem of our courts.. Entrusting
our legislators and the insurance industry with the decisions which affect
such an important aspect of quality of life is disastrous.. Although jury
decisions sometimes are flawed, the decisions of corrupt legislators and the
insurance companies who control their decisions are completely alien to our
justice system..

Your friend in Irving
Bill Walker

 

Actually this does nothing to reduce premiums. If this would guarentee a
reduction in premiums then I might consider it. Like everything else
allowed here in Texas, nothing has reduced the premiums. Bush's tort reform
was passed and my insurance went up. Black mold was allowed to be exempted
from the premiums and my insurance went up.
If these things truly caused the premium increase, then they should decrease
when these laws / exemptions are passed, yet the opposite it true.
When I listen to the commericals about how doctors and nurses are leaving
the field because insurance is too high, tell me how not decreasing the
premiums will bring them back. These premiums will continue to increase and
the public will be hood winked again.