On the recordFebruary 24, 2010
I am on the floor tonight to request that President Obama include in tomorrow's discussion at the health care summit the issue of medical malpractice reform and defensive medicine--the kind of reform that will relieve Kansan families and business owners from facing higher health insurance premiums. We have to reduce health care costs, and this is a commonsense way to do so. If we do not control those costs, then any reform effort will fail, as the cost of health care and, therefore, the cost of insurance will increase. Defensive medicine, where doctors order every possible test under the sun for fear of being sued, costs us more than $650 billion each year, or 26 percent of our annual health care spending. These costs increase insurance premiums for doctors, and health care expenses simply get shifted to the patients. Mr. President, if you are serious about improving patient care and about reducing costs, add medical malpractice reform to the agenda at your health care summit tomorrow.
