Phil Gingrey: “I remember back in 2004, during the Presidential debate between our current President Bush and the Democratic nominee…”

“I remember back in 2004, during the Presidential debate between our current President Bush and the Democratic nominee, Senator Kerry, and on one particular debate they were talking about the cost of medical malpractice insurance. And Senator Kerry made the statement that, well, you know, if a doctor has to pay $40,000, $50,000 a year, some can afford it; that's just a very small amount in the big scheme of things. And I thought President Bush did such a great job of responding to that and he said, you know, Senator, I believe you missed the point. Yeah, some doctors can afford to pay $50,000, some can afford to pay $75,000 a year, depending on their specialty, for medical malpractice coverage; other doctors can't. But that is really not the point. The point that causes the cost of medicine to go up so much is that all of these physicians practice in a defensive mode, and they order tests in many instances that are absolutely unnecessary, way too expensive, and, indeed, can be harmful to the patient.”