Tort reforms have been hugely functional in advocating many changes in the medical community. The passing of HB4 in the year 2003 by the Texas legislature furthered the reform in the state civil justice system. The bill addressed issues such as: limits on noneconomic damages; product liability reform; punitive damages; medical liability reform joint and several liability, and class action reform. Voters also approved a constitutional amendment, Proposition 12, in 2003, which eliminates potential court challenges to the law that limited noneconomic damages to $750,000. Both the enactment of HB4 and Proposition 12 had a huge impact on the Texas economy, in terms of providing jobs and healthcare facilities to its citizens.

Some Other benefits to the medical community were:

·        The American Medical Association dropped Texas from its list of states in medical liability crisis (Houston Chronicle, 5/17/05).

·        Malpractice claims are down and physician recruitment and retention are up, particularly in high risk specialties (Houston Chronicle, 5/17/05).

·        The five largest Texas insurers cut rates, which will save doctors about $50 million, according to the AMA (Houston Chronicle, 5/17/05).

·        Malpractice lawsuits in Harris County have dropped to about half of what they were in 2001 and 2002. (Houston Chronicle, 5/17/05).

·        Texas Medical Liability Trust, the state's largest liability carrier, reduced its premiums by 17 percent (Houston Chronicle, 5/17/05).

·        Fifteen new insurance companies have entered the Texas market (Associated Press, 2/16/05).

·        Health Care Indemnity, the state's largest carrier for hospitals, cut rates by 15 percent in 2004 (Associated Press, 2/16/05).

·        American Physicians Insurance Exchange and The Doctor's Company also reduced premiums (Associated Press, 2/16/05).