Howard Berman: “No. 1, California's health care premiums did not go down 33 percent over what they would have been. The gentleman is…”

“No. 1, California's health care premiums did not go down 33 percent over what they would have been. The gentleman is referring to the malpractice premiums paid by physicians, not the health care premiums paid by citizens. Second, this bill is not in any fashion limited to medical malpractice. It covers, with a $250,000 limit on pain and suffering, any health care liability action which is defined in this bill under any theory, tort, or contract, that a contractor could have a provision for liquidated damages, anything like that that goes beyond the medical costs and the lost wages, and it seeks to put this $250,000 limit on that. The anomaly is when this day is done, if this amendment passes, and you ride in a car which is manufactured defectively, it explodes, and you are paralyzed, there is no limit on what you can get for pain and suffering. Difficult to quantify, but very real. You are paralyzed for the rest of your life, you are a quadriplegic, the wrong leg is amputated, there is something there beyond wage loss, and there is something there beyond just the simple cost of your medical treatment. If you are injured in that explosion by that defective car, no limit.”