Cliff Stearns: “I am here to give a clear example from my home congressional district, a Dr. Joseph Hildner, a board-certified…”

“I am here to give a clear example from my home congressional district, a Dr. Joseph Hildner, a board-certified family-practice specialist in Belleview, Florida. He had a patient that was overweight and smoked too much. He never followed the doctor's advice, missed many appointments all the time, and failed to take blood pressure prescriptions. Suddenly the patient gets a heart attack, right? Then he sues because he was not cared for. The trial attorney simply identified anything that could have been done, declaring that no standard care was done for this patient by Dr. Hildner. Obviously, Dr. Hildner tried to settle this thing because the doctor felt that he would go through long litigation. As it turns out, the lawyer was suing well above the amount of money that the insurance company had for his patient. This is just an example. So what happens to Dr. Hildner? His premiums go from $30,000 to $70,000. How does he pay? How do the doctors in this country pay? They start to hustle through more patients and more patients. They practice what is called defensive medicine; they have all these tests, just simply to protect themselves. He admits he is hustling through all these patients like cattle. He cannot give them the attention they need. So now he is giving unnecessary tests. In the end, we need this bill. That is why I am an original cosponsor of H.R. 5.”