In a letter to U.S. Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) states that there is evidence to suggest that implementing a typical package of tort reform proposals could reduce healthcare spending in the United States by approximately 0.5 percent, or about $11 billion in 2009. CBO defines a typical package in part as a $250,000 cap on noneconomic damages, along with a cap on punitive damages of $500,000 or two times the award for economic damages, whichever is greater. The agency estimates that enactment of such a package would reduce mandatory spending for Medicare, Medicaid, the Children’s Health Insurance program, and the Federal Employees Health Benefits program by roughly $41 billion over the next decade.
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