Washington, DC – Congressman Bill Shuster will vote tonight to make changes to the health care liability system because too many patients do not have quality access to care or they have skyrocketing medical bills.  The current system is unfair and has been abused by personal injury lawyers, which has driven up the cost of health insurance for all patients. 

“The legal system needs to hold people accountable, but it also needs to be fair,” said Shuster.  “Medical liability insurance, which is what doctors use to protect themselves from lawsuit abuse, has increased by 500 percent since 1976.  That has had a dramatic impact on everyone’s health care costs.” 

H.R. 5 would limit non-economic damages to $250,000 to stop frivolous lawsuit abuse.  Punitive damages, such as lost wages, would not be capped under this law.  Runaway juries have awarded millions of dollars, which usually goes toward the lawyer and not the injured.  Certain cases require large verdicts and those have been taken into consideration under this legislation. 

Pennsylvania is considered by the American Medical Association to be a “crisis” state.  Crisis states are in the worst condition, relative to other states, because physicians there are forced to retire early, relocate or give up performing high-risk medical procedures more than others.  This leaves patients with few or no choices when it comes to health care.  In some states, obstetricians and rural family physicians no longer delivery babies. 

“This bill is necessary because, especially in rural America, we are losing our doctors,” said Shuster.  “In order to bring fairness back to our judicial system, we need to stop personal injury lawyers from attacking doctors because they see dollar signs.  This bill stops runaway jury awards, but preserves the safety net necessary for patients across America.” 

H.R. 5 is expected to be voted on this evening.  Congressman Shuster is a cosponsor of the legislation and is a member of the Rural Health Caucus, which works hard to improve rural America’s access to quality care.