Good morning. I am Travis Plunkett, legislative director for the Consumer Federation of America. CFA is a non-profit association of more than 290 organizations founded in 1968 to advance the consumer interest through advocacy and education. Ensuring the provision of fairly priced and adequate insurance has been one of our core concerns since CFA’s inception.

I would like to thank Chairman Bilirakus, Ranking Member Brown and the other members of the Subcommittee for the opportunity to offer our comments on this extremely important issue. For the third time in less than thirty years, Congress and state legislators across the country are grappling with the problem of fast-rising medical malpractice rates. Insurers insist that a sharp increase in large, unwarranted jury verdicts is to blame for the crisis. As a result, lawmakers on this Subcommittee and in a variety of states are considering legislation to place further limits on the legal rights of Americans who have been harmed or killed by medical malpractice.

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