Lizzie Fletcher: “What this bill is really about, it is about affordable, accessible, available and quality health care. Whatever else is…”

“What this bill is really about, it is about affordable, accessible, available and quality health care. Whatever else is said really makes very little difference if we cannot have health care access in all of America. Some are saying this may limit the particular damages individuals injured may get, but in fact, the truth of this bill, the damages that a patient incurs are not limited in this bill, and it has proved very effective. The economic damages are unlimited. The punitive damages are up to twice the economic damages, which makes those unlimited virtually. Let me say this. I do not begrudge personal lawyers having seven digit incomes. That is not the issue here. The issue is the siphoning of money out of the health care system that goes somewhere else, money that could be used to deliver health care. The other issue is accessibility. There are some in rural America, if we do not pass legislation like this, either on the Federal level in many States, that are going to have to drive an extra mile to get looked at. That means that a patient is going to be injured, a child is going to be lost or another individual will not receive the health care. I think it is imperative that we pass this legislation.”