Micra was a law passed 38 years ago, promoted by the insurance industry, that put a $250,000 cap on non-economic damages suffered by vulnerable malpractice victims, children, the elderly, homemakers, the poor. Bottom line, persons suing medical practitioners for negligence causing their injuries are limited to the cap of $250,000 for non-economic damages, such as severe disfigurement, and short life expectancy. It’s time for that cap of $250,000 to have a reasonable inflation adjustment. Raising the Micra cap to account for inflation would combine with other provisions of the Pac Act – random drug and alcohol testing for doctors (because nearly 1 in 5 suffer substance abuse problems in their lifetimes); and safeguards against ramped prescription drug abuse – to help better protect patients from poor performing doctors, drug or drunk doctors, and doctor shopping.
We support the Pac Act, which will probably be up for approval by the general population next fall, and hope that you will join us in that support.
Will California voters do the right thing? Off the bat, it appears they will. The most recent polling data indicates 73% would vote for the Pac Act. Of course, the insurance foes will do their best to knock that number down, but we hope that the initiative should survive even a well- funded insurance campaign against it.
