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health
care, House Republicans have taken action to protect
Iowa
’s health care system.
The
Commerce, Regulation and Labor Committee passed out landmark
legislation that would reform
Iowa
’s medical malpractice law. House
File 2202, as amended, would limit non-economic damages to $250,000
in lawsuits against physicians, hospitals, and nursing homes.
Non-economic damages are those damages that cannot be
financially measured because they are subjective and
non-quantifiable. The
bill would not limit actual damages or any punitive damages and, if
actual malice can be proven, the cap on non-economic damages would
not be in effect.
Non-economic
damages have been a primary driver of the increasing costs for
professional liability insurance.
While the number of lawsuits against
Iowa
physicians falls within the national average, the jury awards exceed
the national average. Thus,
the market forces upon the liability insurance industry drive up
premiums in
Iowa
. That is if you can get
an insurance carrier to cover you.
Actions
like those proposed in House File 2202, have had a positive impact
on professional liability. In
other states that had passed similar laws, the cost of medical
liability insurance went down. According
to information, the rates for medical liability insurance in
California
went down by 40 %.
GOVERNORS
TAX INCREASE IS HERE
Tom
Vilsack is at it again. In his condition of the state address,
Vilsack laid out a $300 million-plus tax increase. This week the
Governor’s office delivered his bill.
The Governor hopes to
expand the sales tax to include services that are used every day by
small businesses and the people of
Iowa
. As the chair of the tax
writing committee I vow to fight this tax increase and block
attempts to take more of your hard earned money!
Ways
& Means Update
Bills
introduced and passed committee this week:
No bills passed committee
this week.
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