[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 155 (2009), Part 18]
[House]
[Page 25011]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




     IMPROVE HEALTH CARE AFFORDABILITY, ACCESS, QUALITY AND CHOICE

  (Mr. THOMPSON of Pennsylvania asked and was given permission to 
address the House for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. THOMPSON of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, we must improve health 
care affordability, access, quality and choice. We must not, however, 
pass a sweeping government takeover of health care.
  We should just fix what is broken. Medical liability and defensive 
medicine costs are broken.
  Mr. Speaker, we need tort reform. The economic and professional 
consequences of medical liability lawsuits are driving the practice of 
defensive medicine.
  Here are the facts: medical liability premiums in the United States 
have reached $26 billion a year. The average award is $4.7 million. 
More than 93 percent of Pennsylvania physicians reported engaging in 
defensive medicine.
  I have cosponsored H.R. 3400, the Empowering Patients First Act, that 
provides tort reform. There will be no limit to actual economic damages 
to the patient. There would be a limitation on punitive damages, and 
they would be determined by a special health care panel that would have 
judges with health care expertise.
  I urge my colleagues to support H.R. 3400 for a first step towards 
real health care reform.

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