A measure limiting medical malpractice suit pain and sufferingawards, that passed the House Wednesday, faces an uphill battle,but insurance industry representatives are hopeful it will be thenext Senate victory for advocates of litigation reform.

The legislation–known as the Help Efficient, Accessible,Low-Cost, Timely Healthcare Act, or HR 5–passed the House by a voteof 226-200.

Under the bill, non-economic "pain and suffering" damages inmedical malpractice lawsuits would be limited to $250,000. The billalso would pre-empt state laws on punitive damages, allowing themonly in cases with clear and convincing evidence of maliciousintent.

Charles Symington, senior vice president of government affairsand federal relations for the Independent Insurance Agents andBrokers of America, said the bill could ultimately help ensureaccess to health care by reducing the costs of litigation andmedical malpractice insurance for doctors and hospitals.

"It puts into place commonsense legal standards that will reducethe financial burden on physicians," he said. "This ultimately willbe good for consumers, who have been hit with rapidly rising costsfor quality medical care. The out-of-control medical liabilitysystem has been a major component in these rising costs."

Similar legislation has been passed in the House for the lasttwo years, but in each instance the bills failed to win enoughsupport to even be voted on in the Senate.

The Senate version of the latest measure, S. 354, was introducedin February by Sens. John Ensign, R-Nev., and Judd Gregg,R-N.H.

Despite the past failures of such measures, Dennis Kelly, aspokesman for the American Insurance Association, said "recenthistory is very encouraging."

Tort reform measures have won passage in this Senate after manyprevious defeats. Notable among them has been a bill reforming theclass action litigation system. Mr. Kelly said that the AIA remains"hopeful that the Senate will see, as the House did, that medicalliability reforms are really the way to deal with theseissues."

Sherman Joyce, president of the American Tort ReformAssociation, commended the House for passing the bill, adding, "Wehope to see this same commitment to access to health carereplicated in the Senate."

According to the American Medical Association, 21 statescurrently are facing a medical liability "crisis." Mr. Joyce saidthat a federal law is necessary to avoid adding any more states tothat list.

"While some states have taken the initiative to tackle unfairlitigation environments, unless a federal law is passed, we canexpect the list of crisis states to grow, leaving patients withoutaccess to quality health care," he said.

He added that, "Even in states where no crisis currently exists,there is no guarantee that state civil justice reforms will survivein the face of opposition from personal injury lawyers."

The AMA said it is supporting the HEALTH Act and will lobby forit in the Senate. "We will be relentless in our quest for federallegislation to provide relief to the nation's physicians–sophysicians can continue to provide care to our nation's patients,"said Dr. William Plested, AMA president-elect.