Political Quotes

“I rise today, once again, in support of health care liability reform. I have long been a major supporter of reforming our medical malpractice laws in an effort to stem the astronomical increases in health care costs. In fact, in the 108th Congress, I was pleased to offer my own amendment on health care liability reform called the Protect the Practice of Medicine Act. While my amendment was supported by the American Medical Association, the American College of Surgeons, and a number of other associations representing the men and women in our medical profession, unfortunately, a procedural move by opponents prevented my amendment from receiving an up-or-down vote. In fact, opponents of health care liability reform have been using procedural tactics in the Senate to prevent an up-or-down vote on this issue for years now. The consequences are grave: men and women, who have invested years of their lives training to become doctors and hundreds of thousands of dollars on their education, continue to leave the practice of medicine due to the high cost of malpractice insurance. Opponents of reform argue that the cost of medical malpractice insurance is stabilizing and that the increases in malpractice premiums are not as dramatic as they were a few years ago. The truth is that these premiums remain extremely high. Having rates stabilize does not mean that those rates have gone down.…”