Joe Crowley: “I oppose this rule, and I oppose this overreaching bill. A lot of people on the other side of the aisle are trying to…”

“I oppose this rule, and I oppose this overreaching bill. A lot of people on the other side of the aisle are trying to claim that caps on awards for victims of medical malpractice will help doctors. Some are claiming that caps on awards will even help patients. The other side has one crucial fact wrong. Capping medical malpractice awards does not mean insurance rates will fall. A recent study, looking at premiums over the last 5 years, found that claims payments have been stable while premiums have more than doubled. In fact, malpractice insurers' total premiums were three times higher than total payments in 2004. If we want to decrease medical malpractice insurance costs for doctors, let us talk about that. Let us talk about reducing medical errors by improving hospital resources and funding for graduate medical school education. Or let us talk about investigating insurance companies' pricing practices. But to pretend that this is medical malpractice awards set by juries and judges who have actually listened to victims' grievances, to put the blame for rising insurance costs on victims, that is not only cruel, it is completely false. If we want to cap medical malpractice awards, let us call it for what it is: a gift to the insurance industry at the expense of innocent victims.…”