Advocacy

MY NUMBER ONE HEALTHCARE PRIORITY
MEDICAL LIABILITY REFORM

s you may know, skyrocketing insurance premiums are debilitating the nation's health care delivery system. Liability insurers are leaving the market or raising rates to astronomical levels. This has caused physicians, hospitals and other health care providers to severely limit their practices or to discontinue practicing altogether. The exodus of these providers from the practice of medicine could continue, and patients will find it increasingly difficult and more expensive to obtain needed health care.

President Bush outlined his plan for addressing this issue when he visited Collinsville on January 5, 2005.  The President is committed to medical liability reform this year, and it is my hope that the House and Senate will move swiftly to introduce legislation on this topic as well.

President Bush's proposal includes:

            *Securing the ability of injured patients to get quick, unlimited compensation for their "economic losses," including the loss of ability to provide unpaid services like care for children or parents;
           
            *Ensuring recoveries for non-economic damages do not exceed a reasonable amount ($250,000);

            *Reserving punitive damages for egregious cases where they are justified, and limiting damages to reasonable amounts;

            *Providing for payments of judgments over time rather than in a single lump sum, to ensure that appropriate payments are made when patients need them;
           
            *Ensuring that old cases cannot be brought to court years after an event; and

            *Providing that defendants pay judgments in proportion to their fault. 

During the 108th Congress, the House of Representatives passed legislation that included several of the President's proposals.  The bipartisan HEALTH Act (HR 5 in 108th Congress), modeled after California's highly successful health care litigation reforms, passed the U. S. House for the first time in March of 2003.  The bill was brought up for a vote again, under the same premise.  HR 4280 passed the US House on May 12, 2004, with the goal of reducing the excessive burden the liability system places on the health care delivery system.  I supported this legislation when it passed the House on both occasions.

It is also important to remember that the HEALTH Act from the 108th Congress would not preempt any State law by limiting either higher or lower caps.  The bill would not prohibit any State law that imposes greater protections in other areas covered by the legislation. 

The US House of Representatives has begun the process of working towards new legislation on medical liability reform, and I hope to see that legislation introduced.  Also, the House Energy and Commerce Health Subcommittee, of which I am a member, held a hearing on February 10, 2005 entitled "Current Issues Related to Medical Liability Reform".  I was pleased to take part in this hearing, which focused on the role of patients, physicians, insurers, and attorneys in this debate. 
 
Although this hearing took place on the federal level, BOTH the state and federal government can and should take action on this urgent issue.

Read more about it . . .

Read more about issues related to Medical Liability Reform at the U.S. Congress on the Internet.