In the march toward his overall healthcare reform plan, President Obama has reversed a George W. Bush administration regulation that gave the feds the ability to trump state governments’ decisions concerning liability with medical devices. Device makers were essentially shielded from healthcare consumer lawsuits Bush generally deemed as “frivolous” in nature. Also, Big Pharma was helped by such actions since the FDA often did not follow regulatory guidelines in implementing new drug indications.

Obama in a two-page memo wrote that federal agencies and departments could claim state law is pre-empted by federal law only when there is a well-defined legal basis. The memo stated that state laws are important because they supplement federal regulations. “State and local governments have frequently protected health, safety and environment more aggressively than has the national government,” Obama wrote.

If efforts at stopping government pre-emption give the patient more of an incentive in trusting public delivery of healthcare, at the same time cutting massive bureaucratic waste from lack of government regulation in healthcare delivery, this effort of Obama’s is to be praised. On the contrary, concerns over a flurry of patient lawsuits from Republicans should be a nonissue since Obama acknowledges the rights of individual states in this case. | LINK

Related Posts Within Doctor Pundit:

1. FDA to Decide Fate of Diabetes Drug This Week It’s official. The FDA will convene this Tuesday (13) to...
2. Federal Judge Rules against Constitutionality of Mandate Portion of Reform Law The hits just keep coming for President Obama, and they’re...
3. Report: Congress Should Consider Alternatives to Tort Reform in Decreasing Healthcare Delivery Costs President Obama and the GOP-led House aren’t the only entities...
4. Mass. Study Shows No Benefit to State’s Insured with Respect to Costs of Coverage and Affordability One of the fundamentals of healthcare reform is applying the...
5. SCOTUS Rules on a Couple of Important Pharma Cases Clarence Thomas wrote for the 5-4 decision in which companies...