[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 151 (2005), Part 9]
[House]
[Page 11740]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                   MEDICAL LIABILITY INSURANCE CRISIS

  (Mr. GINGREY asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. GINGREY. Madam Speaker, the smallest State in the Union has now 
replaced the biggest State in the Union as one of those States in a 
crisis state in its medical liability insurance. Okay, there may be 
those in this body who would argue that Texas is no longer the largest 
State in the Union; but, Madam Speaker, the good news is that 2 years 
ago Texas faced up to the challenge of medical liability reform and 
passed a law on the State level, affirmed it with a constitutional 
amendment that put a cap on non-economic damages and medical liability 
lawsuits. This allowed more insurance to come to the State, and, more 
importantly, Texas Medical Liability Trust, the largest medical 
liability writer in the State of Texas, has reduced liability fees by 
17 percent.
  But in the State of Rhode Island, which recently joined the other 
States in the Union that are in crisis, doctors there are experiencing 
liability insurance premium increases from 175 to 200 percent since 
2002 and fully one-half of their physicians, 48 percent, responded to a 
recent survey saying they were thinking about doing something else.
  Madam Speaker, we passed a good bill in this House 2 years ago that 
nationwide put a cap on non-economic damages of medical liability 
lawsuits. I urge this body to take it up, and I urge the other body to 
pass it as well.

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