[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 149 (2003), Part 13]
[House]
[Page 17330]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                        MEDICAL LIABILITY CRISIS

  (Mrs. BIGGERT asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend her remarks.)
  Mrs. BIGGERT. Mr. Speaker, my home State of Illinois has been 
especially hard hit by the steep rise in medical malpractice insurance 
rates. In the greater Chicago area, premiums have increased between 24 
and 34 percent over the past year. As a result, physicians cannot 
afford to keep treating patients and are forced to either limit what 
patients they can treat or close down their practice.
  When doctors cannot afford to keep their practices open, patients 
suffer; and because doctors in high-risk specialties like OB/GYN are 
hit the hardest, women patients suffer the most.
  The same thing is happening all over the country, with one exception. 
California already has in place a State law very similar to legislation 
the House passed earlier this year, and it is working.
  I urge my colleagues in the other body to pass medical malpractice 
reform legislation and make sure patients' access to health care does 
not suffer.

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