Political Quotes

“I will first talk about what exactly the Senator from Pennsylvania is talking about when he talks about punitive damages. Punitive damages can only be awarded in a case where, in this context, an HMO or a health insurance company has engaged in virtual criminal conduct. They have to have acted maliciously, egregiously, outrageously for there to be a punitive damages award. Now let's talk about it in the context of a real case. Let's suppose some young child needs treatment or a test and the insurance company executives meet and say: We are not paying for that test, and we do not care what the effect is. If something bad happens, so be it. We will live with that, but we are not paying for it. Even though it is covered by our policy, even though we know we are supposed to pay it, we refuse to pay it, period. Let's suppose because that child fails to get some treatment or test that they should have gotten, the child was paralyzed for life. Then a group of Americans sitting on a jury listens to the case, as they do in criminal cases every day in this country, and decides the HMO has engaged in criminal conduct and awards punitive damages on that basis. First of all, I say to my friend from Pennsylvania, I doubt if the parents of that child crippled for life believe they have hit the lottery. That child's life has been destroyed because of intentional criminal conduct on behalf of a defendant, in this case the HMO and the health insurance company.”