The Conservative Union

Welcome to the official blog of the Conservative Union at UW-Milwaukee. Conservatism at its finest - displayed through politics and public opinion.

Thursday, July 28, 2005

For Your Health

Hot off the press...finally someone has stepped forward and introduced legislation that will curb ridiculous medical malpractice suits. Wisconsin's own Rep. Mark Green (R-Green Bay) spoke on the floor to show his support for the "HEALTH Act". Green had the following to say about the matter:

“Mr. Speaker, it all boils down to this: we cannot get a handle on health care costs unless we first get a handle on the least productive part of health care costs. Excessive liability costs are unproductive. They don’t increase the quality of care, they don’t increase the accessibility of care, and they certainly don’t increase the affordability of care. Here’s what excessive liability costs do do: they drive up insurance costs for doctors, the drive physicians out of high-risk specialties and fields, and they drive them out of high-cost areas. In some cases they drive them out of practice altogether, and in those cases we all lose. The great thing about the bill before us is that we know it will work. It’s not speculative. We know it works. We know that reforms which permit injured parties to recover every last dollar of economic damages, but place a modest cap on non-economic damages – loss of society, loss of companionship – we know these reforms can help solve the medical liability crisis. It worked in California, it once worked in Wisconsin, and it can work all across America if we pass the HEALTH Act. If we defeat this motion to recommit we can solve the medical liability crisis. This is what we must do.”

The “HEALTH Act” passed the House of Representatives Thursday afternoon.