Sounding Off:

After Michael Jackson, the most talked about news story at the corner coffee klatches in Newport-Mesa are the new universal health-care proposals.

Although less frequently discussed than it should be, no new federal health-care plan will succeed and cut costs without some type of tort reform.

President Obama has asked all Americans to “sacrifice” for their country in these troubled times. Yet for some reason (hard to believe) he hasn’t asked his brethren, the lawyers and trial lawyers, to make any sacrifices such as not suing the medical system to death.

By some accounts lawsuits take hundreds of billions from our health-care premiums. Remember that win or lose, some or all of the trial lawyers always win.

The president has asked patients, hospitals, clinics, physicians, dentists, nurses, drug companies, pharmacies and health-care companies to take far less.

He has already received 150-plus billion dollars in concessions from the hospitals and 80 billion from the pharmaceutical companies with more groups caving in daily to political coercion. He is also considering a “medical surtax” in addition to higher tax rates for those families making more than $250,000.

Contrary to myths spread by the trial lawyers, few persons seek, or states place caps on a truly injured patient being “made whole.” There are no caps on necessary medical care, nursing care, physical therapy, vocational therapy medications, loss of current and future income, household assistance and on and on. The caps being sought are on the frosting on the cake item of “pain and suffering” that turns the tort system into a legal lottery.

For example, remember how trial lawyer John Edwards bankrolled more than $250,000 million with his dramatic role playing and play acting in the courtroom to get huge pain and suffering verdicts. It turned out that all his claims were junk science. This is the same honest guy who looked straight into the eye of the TV cameras and swore there wasn’t a shred of evidence to support the claims he was having an affair. We shouldn’t allow guys like Edwards to game the system with our premiums.

In addition, if the malpractice laws were made fairer, it would be possible for physicians to eliminate some defensive diagnostic tests and treatments that also add billions to insurance costs. By some estimates these make up one-fourth to one-third of medical costs.

To cut costs we will need some fair and reasonable limitations of lawyers fees, percentages of recoveries, trolling for cases on the Internet, class-action lawsuits, and venue shopping for favorable judges and geographical areas.

While the president asks the nation to sacrifice and cut costs he should also include his own profession.

In sum, no tort reform will lead to no significant cost reduction and therefore no viable universal health-care plan.

MICHAEL ARNOLD GLUECK lives in Newport Beach.