Political Quotes

“this motion to recommit is, I fear, a wolf in sheep's clothing. The fact of the matter is while it purports to be a small carve-out for the Patient Bill of Rights as they apply to HMOs, the fact of the matter is it would insulate and take away the protections for all of the physicians who work for HMOs, and I believe for the hospitals that contract with HMOs. It is very much a gutting amendment. The fact of the matter is that we in this House have to decide which side we are on here. We are either on the side of providing adequate care to our patients, to our constituents, making sure that our physicians can stay in practice, stop retiring early, keeping the trauma centers open; or we are on the side of doing nothing, which is about what this bill would do with a motion to recommit with instructions. The Congressional Budget Office has said that this bill will reduce premiums by 25-30 percent. Despite all of the railings against it, the fact of the matter is when we limit liability, as California has seen and the statistics are crystal clear there, when we limit noneconomic damages, the rates go down. The rates go down because there is competition in the system, and the insurance companies will have to lower their premiums in order to compete with others in the same market.”