Anna Eshoo: “There is no question, my colleagues, that we have a problem in the country. No Member of Congress can say that the…”

“There is no question, my colleagues, that we have a problem in the country. No Member of Congress can say that the status quo is all right. It is not okay for those that are coming into this world not to have the best services of a doctor, of an OB-GYN, of pediatricians; nor is it fair for those who are in the autumn of their lives not to have the right kind of medical assistance. I think there is unanimity in recognizing what the problem is and that we should be unified in how we resolve this. As a Californian, I know what the MICRA law is. For those who do not know what it stands for, it is the Medical Injury Compensation Reform Act. It has been on the books in California for more than a quarter of a century. Democrats put it into place. Democratic Governors have not repealed it. Republican legislators, Democratic Governors, regardless of what that combination has been, for those who take shots at lawyers and Democrats, a Democratic legislature, and for over a quarter of a century, they have kept this law in place. In the Congress we have looked at MICRA; and the general consensus has been that MICRA is good, MICRA works.”