02/10/2005
Testimony from NFIB/Connecticut State Director Armando Paolino in support of medical malpractice reform legislation before the insurance committee of the Connecticut General Assembly, submitted on February 10, 2005.
Senator Crisco, Representative O'Connor and members of the insurance committee,
my name is Armando Paolino. I am the state director of the National Federation of Independent Business Connecticut Chapter. We represent nearly 5000 small independent businesses from main street Connecticut. Our members are the owners of your local deli, the service station, the community pharmacy, the drycleaners and the small manufacturer to name a few. You know these people; they are an essential fabric of every local community. They typically employ five-eight employees and some employ as many as 25-50 employees.
We submit this testimony in support of medical malpractice reform legislation and urge you to include caps on non-economic damages. Our members often treat their employees like families. Small businesses want to do as much as possible to keep the good employees they work alongside every day. Health insurance costs make that an often difficult task.
The General Assembly has failed to address this issue in a meaningful way. Connecticut must act to address this critical issue which is directly impacting small-business health insurance costs. NFIB/Connecticut strongly urges the committee to approve meaningful medical malpractice reform. Medical malpractice reform is an NFIB/Connecticut voting record issue.
This issue has a direct impact on the cost and availability of health-care services. Due to skyrocketing medical malpractice insurance rates, many small-business owners are finding it increasingly difficult to afford health insurance for themselves and their workers, and to locate specialty medical care from primary care physicians, OB/GYNs, surgeons and emergency room doctors.
In 2003 Connecticut was identified as one of 18 states facing a severe medical malpractice insurance crisis. NFIB is strongly supporting legislation being pushed by the Connecticut State Medical Society that would cap non-economic damages. Caps have been passed in a majority of other states.
- Health insurance costs have been identified as the No. 1 problem affecting small-business owners!
- Capping just non-economic damages at $250,000 is crucial to improving access and affordability of health care. Economic damages such as present and future medical costs, lost wages, rehabilitation, home health care and childcare will continue to be unlimited.
- A cap will help end the practice of defensive medicine by greatly reducing the threat of frivolous lawsuits. According to an April 2002 Price Waterhouse Cooper's report, 7 percent of the increase in health-care costs are directly related to defensive medicine.
- This reform is modeled after the landmark California MICRA legislation enacted in the '70s. MICRA has succeeded in both protecting patients and keeping insurance affordable for providers.
- Doctors in 23 states with a cap on non-economic damages have been spared the rapidly increasing malpractice insurance premiums that have forced many doctors in Connecticut to move their practice or stop practicing altogether.
- The U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services has reported that states with limits of $250,000 on non-economic damages have average premium increases of 12-15 percent compared to 44 percent in states without caps like Connecticut.
- NFIB believes that capping non-economic damages will inject more fairness into the medical malpractice legal system, reduce unnecessary litigation and legal costs, and protect the rights of those with legitimate claims.
We urge the committee to support medical malpractice reform and a cap on non-economic damages. Thank you for supporting the small businesses in your community.
