[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 149 (2003), Part 18]
[House]
[Page 25268]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                      STATE OF MEDICINE IN AMERICA

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Sherwood). Under a previous order of the 
House, the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Burgess) is recognized for 5 
minutes.
  Mr. BURGESS. Mr. Speaker, I rise tonight to speak once more about the 
state of medicine in America brought on by an overly-litigious 
environment that pits patients against doctors and lines the pockets of 
special interest lawyers.
  This crisis reduces the access to care and ultimately increases the 
cost of health care for all Americans. This is a situation that must be 
resolved. And in fact, in March this House took a big step toward that 
resolution when we passed H.R. 5 that will take great strides to 
address this glowing national crisis.
  At a time, Mr. Speaker, that we are debating costs in health care, in 
1996 the Quarterly Journal of Economics published a study on the cost 
of the current medical liability system and the cost of that system on 
the overall cost of health care in our country. That report, written by 
Dr. Daniel Kessler and Dr. Mark McClellan, shows that States where 
liability reform had occurred and had placed a cap on damage awards, if 
they would abolish mandatory prejudgment interest and place limits on 
the amount of lawyers' contingency fees, hospitals' expenditures could 
be reduced by 5 to 9 percent within 3 to 5 years of adoption of those 
reforms.
  The costs incurred by the current environment are borne by the entire 
system, from the family purchasing their own health insurance to the 
businessperson trying to provide coverage for his employees, to the 
American taxpayer who supports medical services through Medicare, 
Medicaid, and CHIPs.
  And how does this 5 to 9 percent savings translate in terms of real 
dollars? McClellan and Kessler's model showed that in States with 
effective tort reform, Medicare costs were 5.3 percent less for a new 
diagnosis of acute myocardial infarction, that is heart attack, and 9 
percent less for ischemic heart disease. If applied nationally, this 
would mean that the direct liability reforms would save $600 million a 
year in the Medicare program. Extrapolating these costs across 
America's health care system, this amount would come to an average 
savings of $50 billion a year.
  Why are costs higher in States that have not enacted reforms such as 
those we passed in H.R. 5? Because doctors have become accustomed to 
practicing defensive medicine, ordering tests they know their patients 
do not need, but, gosh, it could save their practice should a lawyer 
file suit against them. This unnecessary type of health care spending 
drives up the cost of health care for everyone. In fact, Mr. Speaker, 
it even drives it up for trial lawyers. So average Americans are 
saddled with the additional cost to the system when they go to the 
doctor.
  Now, some will argue additional medical services are a good thing. 
They may say a doctor performing more tests will save more lives. 
However, the study did show between reform States and nonreform States 
mortality rates remain constant, indicating that a litigious 
environment does not improve health outcomes. The current environment 
is not conducive to low-cost quality health care and must be changed. 
In fact, it is our duty to change this environment. The Congressional 
Budget Office has concluded that reform would lead to ``an increase in 
the number of employers offering health insurance to their employees.''
  As we have already seen in California, health care costs in that 
State are an estimated 6 percent lower than in other States, saving 
California patients $6 billion a year on health care, all because 
California had the foresight in 1975 to adopt meaningful medical 
liability reforms. Now the Congress has the same opportunity to 
positively impact the cost of health care in the United States by 
adopting much-needed medical liability reform.
  Today, in an address to the American College of Surgeons, Senator 
Frist, the Senate majority leader, spoke to this issue. He spoke and 
described the miracle of American medicine. And the miracle of American 
medicine is a gift. Not just to our Nation, but in fact to the world. 
And lest there be any doubt about this question, just look at the 
incredible story of the separation of the Egyptian twins in Dallas last 
weekend.
  Truly, American medicine is an incredible gift; and we cannot, we 
should not, we must not allow that gift to be wasted. I urge my 
colleagues in the other body to make a commitment to the health of 
American families. Preserve the gift and the miracle of American 
medicine, and pass this very necessary liability reform.

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