Political Quotes

“I wasn't planning on addressing this item, but I heard so many of my colleagues, especially those on the other side, talk about the crisis of providing the doctors that are going to be essential for health care, and finally we are talking about health care, not health care insurance. As somebody who spent 10 years supervising the safety net for a community of 3 million in San Diego County, I just wish my colleagues on the other side, when they're worried about pediatricians and primary health care people, would understand that if you really want to protect those providers, why don't we sit down and talk about true tort reform, especially for the pediatricians. This is a cost that is bearing down. And when you're asking young people to get an education to be a primary health care provider, especially a pediatrician, explain to them why somebody on public assistance, on welfare, has more right to sue their physician than those men and women who are serving in uniform. The fact is there is no way that we should be sitting up here saying that we really want the next generation to get into health care unless we're willing to tell our friends who are the trial lawyers that we're going to take the physicians off the counter; we're not going to allow lawsuits to be part of the overhead that is driving people out of the health care business.…”