Pete Stark: “Mr. Chairman, this is, as many speakers have said before, a sad day for those of us who are neither lawyers or…”

“Mr. Chairman, this is, as many speakers have said before, a sad day for those of us who are neither lawyers or physicians, but from time to time become patients in the medical delivery system. Because what my Republican colleagues have done under the leadership of the President of the United States and the Republican Speaker of the House is just sold out the insurance companies and created a system for the very richest people in the United States. One might say, there they go again, harming the average working person and bailing out the rich insurance companies, the rich pharmaceutical companies, the rich managed care companies, and making it easier for them to make a profit by denying us care. There is no other way that a managed care company makes a profit, except to withhold care, pay less for it, give us less quality, or harm us. I am sorry that the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Norwood) sold out for a brief display of the Rose Garden. I am sorry that many of my colleagues would like to make this an issue of trial lawyers. I would suggest to my colleagues that the American public, when they are faced with a pharmaceutical company or Aetna Life Insurance Company, are going to trust the trial lawyer a whole lot more. And when the doctor cuts off the wrong leg or when care is denied, that doctor is not going to do anything to bring back a loved one, that doctor is not going to redo the procedure. That doctor is going to run and hide.”