The overwhelming majority of insured Americans say they are satisfied with their present plans. That’s why when pushing an overhaul scheme President Obama is careful to say things like, “[I]f you’ve got health insurance, you like your doctors, you like your plan, you can keep your doctor, you can keep your plan.  Nobody is talking about taking that away from you,” (Holmdel, NJ, July 16, 2009).

But, a few minutes ago the House Energy and Commerce Committee voted not to back the President’s pledge. The committee voted 34-20 to proceed with abolition of Medicare Part C, also known as Medicare Advantage. This is the plan that allows beneficiaries a choice to receive their Medicare benefits through private health insurance plans. In some jurisdictions one fifth of recipents choose this form of Medicare. In fact, Medicare Advantage is so popular among recipients that it will be the fastest growing way to receive Medicare until Congress destroys it as an option. It is clear that there is no commitment in the House to let Americans who like what they have keep what they have.

At least one wrongful death trial arising from the 9-11-2009 World Trade Center attacks will begin April 12 before Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein in Manhattan’s Federal District Court. According to the New York Times the judge “said that he wanted the trial to be finished within a month and that it would involve either two still-pending lawsuits filed on behalf of victims who died on American Airlines Flight 11, the first plane to strike the World Trade Center; or a third unresolved suit, involving a passenger on United Airlines Flight 175, which hit the south tower of the trade center.”

The judge expressed some preference for hearing these cases ahead of the ground zero respitory health claims that are also on his calendar saying, “I think in many respects when we think of 9-11 we think more of the people in the airplanes than anybody else.”

“[A] South Florida hospital that quietly chartered a plane and sent a seriously brain injured illegal immigrant back to Guatemala over the objections of his family and legal guardian,” is facing trial in Florida accroding to this AP article in the New York Times.  It’s a case that “underscores the dilemma facing hospitals with patients who require long-term care, are unable to pay, and don’t qualify for federal or state aid because of their immigration status.”

A suit filed in Miami challenges the banks’ overdraft fee policies. “Seven lawsuits from around the nation have been consolidated in front of Senior U.S. District Court Judge James Lawrence King,” according to the Daily Business Review. At least three more suits are expected to be added to the seven.  “So far, Wachovia, Bank of America and Citibank have been named as defendants in the lawsuits, and plaintiffs attorneys expect other financial institutions to be brought in.”

As reported in the Washington Post, “It took just two days after last month’s deadly Metro crash for the first personal injury lawsuit to be filed in federal court. Five others have followed, one seeking as much as $25 million in damages. Legal experts said the number of liability claims for the crash, which killed nine and injured 80, can be expected to rise for months and, perhaps, years. Legal damages could run into the tens of millions of dollars and, if negligence is proved and punitive damages awarded, they could easily reach into the hundreds of millions, legal analysts said.”

Interestingly, while it’s often dificult to sue a municipal agency the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority is an interjurisdictional compact that is not as well protected from liability as a state alone would be under sovreign immunity.