Bill > S44

This bill, known as the Medical Care Access Protection Act of 2013 (MCAP Act), aims to reduce the burden of medical liability lawsuits on the healthcare system to improve patient access and care. It proposes changes to how medical liability claims are handled, including establishing stricter time limits for filing lawsuits, setting caps on non-economic damages (like pain and suffering) at $250,000 for individual healthcare providers or institutions and $500,000 for multiple institutions, and limiting punitive damages to twice the amount of economic damages or $250,000, whichever is greater, unless specific criteria for malicious intent are met. The bill also introduces rules for expert witness qualifications in medical malpractice cases, allows for periodic payments of future damages, and mandates that damages awarded to a claimant be reduced by any collateral source benefits they are entitled to, such as insurance payments, unless the collateral source provider has a right of reimbursement. Importantly, the MCAP Act clarifies that it does not preempt state laws that offer greater protections or higher damage awards than those provided in the bill, and it includes specific exceptions for vaccine-related injuries.