Lamar Smith: “Madam Speaker, the Democrats' health care bill squanders health care resources and taxpayer money by encouraging…”

“Madam Speaker, the Democrats' health care bill squanders health care resources and taxpayer money by encouraging wasteful defensive medicine. It explicitly prevents States from making any effective legal reforms under its provisions, and expands opportunities for lawyers to sue doctors who did absolutely nothing wrong. And it limits the supply of doctors when patients need them most. In fact, one particularly costly part of our health care system is the practice of so-called 'defensive medicine,' which occurs when doctors are forced by the threat of lawsuits to conduct tests and prescribe drugs that are not medically required. A survey released last year found defensive medicine is practiced by virtually all physicians. Lawsuit abuse does more than make medical care much more expensive. It drives doctors out of business. Doctors who specialize in inherently high-risk fields are leaving their practices and hospitals are shutting down because their high exposure to liability makes lawsuit insurance unaffordable. It can have deadly consequences. Hundreds and even thousands of patients may die annually for lack of doctors. Madam Speaker, the Democrats' health care law will produce more litigation and less effective health care. That is why it should be repealed.”