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




          MALPRACTICE BILL IS A CRITICAL ISSUE FOR PHYSICIANS

  (Mrs. CHRISTENSEN asked and was given permission to address the House 
for 1 minute and to revise and extend her remarks.)
  Mrs. CHRISTENSEN. Mr. Speaker, this week the Senate will take up 
their malpractice bill. This is a critical issue for physicians; and it 
should provide real relief, not just be a political tool.
  Like the one the House passed, all the Republican bill in the other 
body would do is cap the punitive and noneconomic damages and limit 
attorneys' fees. While some level of caps may need to be a part of 
effective legislation, this measure is just an attack on lawyers who 
they see as supporters of Democrats.

                              {time}  1015

  The cap is not fully researched and is likely to hurt poorer and 
younger patients. Caps alone do not lower malpractice premiums as shown 
in a recent study of seven States that passed cap legislation where 
premiums continue to rise.
  The American people are tired of political responses to important 
issues. The better Democrat approach is comprehensive, would bring 
insurance companies under the antitrust laws, and possibly cap premiums 
while a task force studies the best way to move ahead. Republicans 
would apply a simple political Band-Aid to this major wound from which 
the medical community is hemorrhaging and in the process free insurance 
and managed care companies from any accountability for decisions they 
make on our care by including them in a cap that is meaningless with 
their huge profits. That is the whole purpose of the bill, protecting 
corporate friends. It is not good medicine. This Congress should spit 
it out.

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