my practice bracketed the time before micra and after. for anybody to suggest that micra didn't make a difference, you weren't there. i happened to be a young attorney at the time, and i had some classmates from high school and college that went to medical school, and they were about ready to enter the practice of medicine. a number of of them left the state of california because the insurance rates were so hichlt i remember a good friend of mine who is an anesthesiologist left the state. some ob/gyns left the state. some doctors involved in brain surgery left the state because of the high costs. i don't know where you get these figures that it wasn't until '88 we saw any progress, because the absolute increase on a yearly basis of the premiums paid for by the tdoctors leveled off aftr we passed micra. it was interesting to hear the gentleman from georgia talk about noneconomic damages. it puts a limit on noneconomic damages, pain and suffering. why? that's the most potentially abused part of the system. i can prove losses for future earn

my practice bracketed the time before micra and after. for anybody to suggest that micra didn't make a differce, you weren't there. i happened to be young attorney at the time, and i had some classmates from high school and college that went to medical school, and they were about ready to enter the practice of medicine. a number of of them left the statof california because the insurance rates were so hichlt i remember a good friend of mine who is an anesthesiologist left the state. some ob/gynseft the state. some doctors involved in brain surgery left the state because of the high costs. i don't know where you get these figures that it wasn't until '88 we saw any progress, because the absolute increase on a yearly basis of the premiums paid for by the tdoctors leveled off aftr we passed micra. it was interesting to hear the gentleman from georgia talk about noneconomic damages. it puts a limit on noneconomic damages, pain and suffering. why? that's the most potentially abused part of the system. i can prove losses for future earnings. i

my practice bracketed the time before micra and after. for anybody to suggest that micra didn't make a difference, you weren't there. i happened to be a young attorney at the time, and i had some classmates from high school and college that went to medical school, and they were about ready to enter the practice of medicine. a number of of them left the state of california because the insurance rates were so hichlt i remember a good friend of mine who is an anesthesiologist left the state. some ob/gyns left the state. some doctors involved in brain surgery left the state because of the high costs. i don't knowhereou get these figures that it wasn't until '88 we saw any progress, because the absolute increase on a yearly basis of the premiums paid for by the tdoctors leveled off aftr we passed micra. it was interesting to hear the gentleman from georgia talk about noneconomic damages. it puts a limit on noneconomic damages, pain and suffering. why? that's the most potentially abused part of the system. i can prove losses for future earnings

medic injury compensation reform act of 1975, over 35 years ago, which is now commonly referred to as micra. while total medical liability premiums and the rest of the u.s. rose 945% between 1976 and 2009, the increase in california premiums was less than one third of that, at just about 261%. recent public pollfod a majority of amerans suppo reasonab limin noneconomic damages, and believe that medical liability lawsuits are a imy as r rin hal ca s weoo fwa tth inodti of the al a at mro lirn's fos and so otts current and future medical liability reforms at the state level. by supporting patient safety initiatives along side enacting meaningful liability reform, congress hashe opportunity to providaccess to mical services, reduce the practice of defensive medicine, improve the tient physician relationship, support physician practices and the jobs tey create, and curb a wasteful use of precious health care dollars, the costs both financial and emotional of health care liability litigation. on behalf of the ama, i would like to extend our appreciation for the leadership of the committee and th

least we should put in an inflation factor and start at a million dollars if we want to duplicate wh micra did in california. they did not prerhee dureduce ts at all. only after insurance reform was enacted in 1988 by california did the insurance premiums level off and actually go down a bit. but for the 13 years, the perfect experiment for the 13 years, which california had the tort reform, but not the insurance reform, the premiums went up 450%. when the insurance refo was enacted, premiums went down 8%. so maybe we should be talking about insurance reform instead of tort reform, but unfortunately that's not in front of this committee. so i think we're off on the wrong track if we're concentrating on this. and i see the red light is on. i apologize for exceeding my time. i yield back whatever time i don't have left. >> thank you, mr. nadler. with that objection, other members opening statements will be made part of the record and now i'll introduce our witnesses. our first witness is dr. ardis hoven, chair of the american medical association board of trustees. prior to her election to th

least we should put in an inflation factor and start at a million dollars if we want to duplicate what micradid in california. they did not prerhee dureduce ts at all. only after insurance reform was enacted in 1988 by california did the insurance premiums level off and actually go down a bit. but for the 13 years, the perfect experiment for the 13 years, which california had the tort reform, but not the insurance reform, the premiums went up 450%. when the insurance reform was enacted, premiums went down 8%. so maybe we should be talking about insurance reform instead of tort reform, but unfortunately that's not in front of this committ. so i think we're off on the wrong track if we're concentrating on this and i see the red light is on. i apologize for exceeding my time. i yield back whatever time i don't have left. >> thank you, mr. nadler. with that objection, other members opening statements will be made part of the record and now i'll introduce our witnesses. our first witness is dr. ardis hoven, chair of the american medical association board of trustees. prior to her election to the

least we should put in an inflation factor and start at a million dollars if we want to duplicate what micra did in california. they did not prerhee dureduce ts at all. only after insurance reform was enacted in 1988 by california did the insurance premiums level off and actually go down a bit. but for the 13 years, the perfect experiment for the 13 years, which california had the tort reform, but not the insurance reform, the premiums went up 450%. when the insurance reform was enacted, premiums went down 8%. so maybe we should be talking about insurance reform instead of tort reform, but unfortunately that's not in front of this committee. so i think we're off on the wrong track if we're concentrating on this. and i see the red light is on. i apologize for exceeding my time. i yield back whatever time i don't have left. >> thank you, mr. nadler. with that objection, other members opening statements will be made part of the record and now i'll introduce our witnesses. our first witness is dr. ardis hoven, chair of the american medical association board of trustees. prior to her election to

be very useful to rethink statutes in order to see it as the world forum in charge of coordinating micra economic policies -- micro-economic policies. that is better than looking at the wage bills of one of the world's poorest countries in africa. which, in any case, would not in any way contribute to worsening world imbalances. what ever we do, i think that we have to extend and broaden the role of the imf in combating these. we need to define the criteria and apply them by changing them in terms of the imf. >> mr. president, you have been extremely generous with your time and i think that we have to close very shortly. we cannot give the floor to everyone. but perhaps we could allow last statement and the last question. >> good morning, mr. president. a few months ago, you presided over a wonderful africa-france summit and you make sure that the links with africa and the aid given to africa be at the center of the concern of the g8 in g20 -- a g8 and g20. you said yourself that in africa, if you have 1 billion more inhabitants in about 30 years' time. you also linked your statement abo