S.Amdt. 416

SA 416. Mr. CRUZ submitted an amendment intended to be proposed to
amendment SA 267 proposed by Mr. McConnell to the bill H.R. 1628, to
provide for reconciliation pursuant to title II of the concurrent
resolution on the budget for fiscal year 2017; which was ordered to lie
on the table; as follows:

At the appropriate place, insert the following:

SEC. ___. INCREASED FMAP FOR STATES THAT ADOPT MEDICAL
LIABILITY REFORM LEGISLATION.

Section 1905 of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1396d)
is amended--
(1) in subsection (b), in the first sentence, by striking
``and (aa)'' and inserting ``(aa), and (ee)'';
(2) in subsection (cc)--
(A) by striking ``and (aa)'' and inserting ``(aa), and
(ee)''; and
(B) by inserting ``(or, in the case of an increase under
subsection (ee), for the fiscal quarter occurring immediately
prior to the first fiscal quarter during which the State is
eligible for such increase)'' after ``December 31, 2009,'';
and
(3) by adding at the end the following:
``(ee) Increased FMAP for Medical Liability Reform.--
``(1) In general.--For fiscal years beginning on or after
October 1, 2017, notwithstanding subsection (b), for a State
that is one of the 50 States or the District of Columbia and
meets the requirement of paragraph (2) for the entire fiscal
year, the Federal medical assistance percentage otherwise
determined under such subsection and subsections (y), (z),
and (aa) for the State and year shall be increased by 1
percentage point.
``(2) Limitations on noneconomic damages in medical
liability cases.--A State meets the requirement of this
paragraph if State law provides that, in any action on a
health care liability claim where judgment is rendered for a
claimant, regardless of the number of defendants against whom
judgment is rendered or the number of separate causes of
action on which the claim is based--
``(A) the maximum collective amount of noneconomic damages
recoverable from one or more physicians or health care
providers that are not health care institutions (inclusive of
all persons and entities associated with the physician or
provider for which vicarious liability theories may apply)
against whom judgment is rendered shall not exceed $250,000
for each claimant;
``(B) the maximum amount of noneconomic damages recoverable
from any single health care institution (inclusive of all
persons and entities associated with the institution for
which vicarious liability theories may apply) against whom
judgment is rendered shall not exceed $250,000 for each
claimant; and
``(C) the maximum collective amount of noneconomic damages
recoverable from all health care institutions (inclusive of
all persons and entities associated with the institution for
which vicarious liability theories may apply) against whom
judgment is rendered shall not exceed $500,000 for each
claimant.
``(3) Noneconomic damages.--In this subsection, the term
`noneconomic damages' means damages awarded for the purpose
of compensating a claimant for physical pain and suffering,
mental or emotional pain or anguish, loss of consortium,
disfigurement, physical impairment, loss of companionship and
society, inconvenience, loss of enjoyment of life, injury to
reputation, and all other nonpecuniary losses of any kind
other than exemplary or punitive damages.''.
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