Ed Royce: “there really is a medical liability crisis in this country. Americans realize there is an urgent problem, but I think…”

“there really is a medical liability crisis in this country. Americans realize there is an urgent problem, but I think many are unsure of how to solve that problem. In my view, they need to look no farther than California for an answer as to what to do about this medical liability crisis, because in the early 1970s in California we faced a medical liability crisis very similar to the one that is spreading across the Nation now; and at that time, Governor Jerry Brown teamed up with members in the State Senate and members in the State Assembly and passed the Medical Injury Compensation Reform Act, which is referred to as MICRA. As health care costs hammer our citizens and limit the jobs available, it is imperative that the Nation follow California's example and bring structure and stability to the medical liability system. I say that because Californians enjoy a very secure competitive liability system. MICRA limited noneconomic damages to those injured, while ensuring full compensation for lost wages and for medical costs. Doctors have the benefit of some of the lowest medical liability premiums in the Nation. Since MICRA was enacted, medical liability premiums across this Nation have increased by 750 percent. In California, the increase is less than half that number, less than half the Nation's average. That means that we are doing something right, and let me give my colleagues some other facts.…”