Skyrocketing malpractice insurance rates are crippling our nation's health care system. And this is something that affects not just doctors, but more importantly it hurts the patients they serve. As we struggle to look for ways to contain health care costs, we must bring the outrageous costs of medical liability under control.

That is why I have decided to cosponsor H.R. 4600, the HEALTH Act - Help Efficient Accessible, Low-Cost, Timely Health Care - to address the crisis of medical liability reform.

The HEALTH Act safeguards patients' access to care through the following common sense reforms:

• Limiting the number of years a plaintiff has to file a healthcare liability action to ensure that claims are brought while evidence and witnesses are available.
• Allocating damages fairly, in proportion to a party's degree of fault
• Allowing patients to recover for economic damages such as future medical expenses and loss of future earnings while establishing a cap on non-economic damages, such as pain and suffering, of $250,000.
• Placing reasonable limits on punitive damages to be the greater of two times the amount of economic damages awarded or $250,000.

I have long been a supporter of medical liability reform and will continue to fight for it until we bring this crisis under control.