On the recordMarch 21, 2012
I thank the gentleman from Florida. We're in an unusual situation here where the same people on the other side of the aisle who decry the regulation of what insurance providers have to provide to those they insure across State borders and who want to interfere with our requirement that insurance companies not be allowed to discriminate based on preexisting conditions, on the other hand they say we need to replace the State tort systems, all 50 of them, with one overarching Federal approach with regard to malpractice. So whereas there is no Federal role in protecting patients from being dropped by their insurers, from preventing insurance companies from excluding individuals because they had childhood asthma, because they're a breast cancer survivor, and in many cases even because they have a child, while there is no Federal role for that, somehow there is a Federal role in micromanaging the way in which somebody who was wrongfully injured by a botched procedure can seek recourse. I ask my colleagues, not only where is the consistency, but how can we reconcile this with our values as Americans?
