When the Illinois Supreme Court threw out a state law placing caps on medical malpractice damages, the court also ditched some crucial insurance industry reforms.  Indeed, state regulators cite those regulations -- established in a 2005 bill that included the caps -- as the primary reason malpractice premiums for doctors and hospitals are declining in Illinois.

We were encouraged to see that State Sen. Kwame Raoul (D-Chicago) had introduced a bill to reinstate the reforms. But he told the State Journal-Register yesterday that he doesn't expect it to move from committee anytime soon. "At some point down the road, we will revisit it and sit down and get all the stakeholders involved," he said. "But who knows when that will be?"

That's a real shame.