May 8, 2006 The Honorable Joseph I. Lieberman United States Senator Office of US Senator Joseph Lieberman 706 Hart Senate Office Building Washington, DC 20510 Dear Senator Lieberman: Connecticut hospitals are writing to urge your support in enacting meaningful medical liability reform during this session of Congress. You may be aware that the cost of medical liability coverage has become an increasing burden for hospitals, physicians, and the patients they serve. As a consequence of these burgeoning costs, physicians – especially those providing specialized care – are curtailing services, retiring early, moving to states that have implemented medical liability reforms, or simply abandoning their practices altogether. Our ability to provide high quality care, which is already compromised considerably, could suffer irreparably if we lose access to physicians on whom we depend. The Senate is expected to consider two important bills in the near future. We are requesting your support for both. The first of these, S. 22, The Medical Care Access Protection Act of 2006, is sponsored by Senator John Ensign (R-NV). Under S. 22, a healthcare provider’s civil liability for non-economic damages is capped at $250,000. A healthcare institution’s civil liability for non-economic damages also is capped at $250,000, and where a final judgment is rendered against more than one healthcare institution, the level of civil liability for non-economic damages is limited to $250,000 for each institution or $500,000 for all unrelated institutions. The bill also preserves states’ rights by keeping state medical liability statutes in place and allowing future state laws to supersede federal limits on damages. The second bill, S. 23, the Healthy Mothers and Healthy Babies Access to Care Act, is sponsored by Senators Rick Santorum (R-PA) and Judd Gregg (D-NH), and would specifically target medical liability reforms for Ob/Gyn services. We urge you to vote yes on these bills and yes on cloture. Sincerely,
Jennifer Jackson President and CEO
JDJ:JDI:pas By fax cc: Wilson Wang
Jim Iacobellis Vice President, Government Relations