Congressman Bart Gordon said the additional cost reduction measures in the President’s new health care proposal are moving in the right direction.

“Throughout the debate over the past year, I’ve said any responsible health care bill must do two things: reduce overall health care spending and increase access to affordable care. I voted against the House bill in November because it expanded coverage but did not do enough to bring down costs. I’m pleased to see the discussion moving in a more fiscally responsible direction now,” Gordon said. “I’m especially pleased the President incorporated my ideas on medical malpractice reform in his proposal, as well as Republican ideas on increasing insurance accountability. Together, these measures will help to reduce health care costs and get our deficit under control.”

The President’s health care proposal includes medical malpractice reform provisions suggested by Congressman Gordon. Gordon’s measure would reduce frivolous lawsuits that drive up healthcare premiums and force doctors to practice defensive medicine. Federal grants would encourage states to enact innovative policies to advance medical liability reform, such as Tennessee’s successful Certificate of Merit program that requires lawsuits to be certified by a medical expert as having medical merit before they may be filed. The number of lawsuits filed against Tennessee practitioners dropped more than 60 percent in the first year the program was enacted.

“Medical liability reform has the potential to significantly bring down health care costs at a time when so many families are being priced out of quality care. I’ve seen how well the Certificate of Merit policy worked for Tennessee. These grants will encourage similar effective reforms in other states,” Gordon said. “Cost-cutting reforms like this should be at the center of any successful health care bill, and I’m glad the President has included this one in his proposal.”
Gordon cited a number of other specific measures included in the President’s proposal designed to reduce health care costs and expand access to coverage:

• Allowing individuals and small businesses to group together to get better health insurance prices;
• Allowing health insurance to be purchased across state lines;
• Closing the Medicare Part D donut hole and eliminating Medicare copayments for preventative services;
• Ending insurance discrimination against Americans with pre-existing conditions; and
• More aggressively pursuing waste, fraud and abuse within the Medicare program.