Gerald Kleczka: “included in this budget package is a provision which severely threatens every American who seeks medical treatment.…”

“included in this budget package is a provision which severely threatens every American who seeks medical treatment. Under the Ways and Means Medicare Title we are considering today, noneconomic damages in medical malpractice suits will be limited to $250,000 per case--regardless of the number of persons or the number of actions brought. This, Mr. Speaker, is a terrible mistake. Mr. Speaker, we simply cannot afford to weaken our current medical malpractice laws. In this age of managed care, the financial incentives of medicine have been completely turned around. In today's managed care world, doctors make more money by ``managing care'', by not practicing good medicine, by not ordering tests, by not doing surgeries. The Republicans argue that the threat of malpractice suits is driving up medical costs unnecessarily. They argue that physicians are being forced to practice defensive medicine--forced to order additional unnecessary tests and procedures to cover themselves in case they might be sued. Mr. Speaker, this simply is not the case. In fact, a study conducted by the Office of Technology Assessment concluded that less than 8 percent of all diagnostic procedures are likely to be caused by conscious concern about malpractice. The Office of Technology Assessment and the Congressional Budget Office who have thoroughly studied this issue have never found any evidence that defensive medicine is a significant health care cost.”