TITLE 
II—MEDICAL 
MAL-
PRACTICE 
INSURANCE 
RE-
FORM 
SEC. 201. PROHIBITION ON ANTICOMPETITIVE ACTIVITIES 
BY MEDICAL MALPRACTICE INSURERS. 
Notwithstanding any other provision of law, nothing 
in the Act of March 9, 1945 (15 U.S.C. 1011 et seq., com-
monly known as the ‘‘McCarran-Ferguson Act’’) shall be 
construed to permit commercial insurers to engage in any 
form of price fixing, bid rigging, or market allocations in 
connection with the conduct of the business of providing 
medical malpractice insurance. This section does not apply 
to the information-gathering and rate-setting activities of 
any State commissions of insurance, or any other State 
regulatory body with authority to set insurance rates. 
SEC. 202. MEDICAL MALPRACTICE INSURANCE PRICE COM-
PARISON. 
(a) INTERNET SITE.—Not later than 90 days after 
the date of the enactment of this Act, and after consulta-
tion with the medical malpractice insurance industry, the 
Secretary of Health and Human Services shall establish 
an interactive internet site which shall enable any health 
care provider licensed in the United States to obtain a 
quote from each medical malpractice insurer licensed to 
write the type of coverage sought by the provider.
(b) ONLINE FORMS.— 
(1) IN GENERAL.—The internet site shall en-
able health care providers to complete an online 
form that shall capture a comprehensive set of infor-
mation sufficient to generate a quote for each in-
surer. The Secretary shall develop transmission soft-
ware components which allow such information to be 
formatted for delivery to each medical malpractice 
insurer based on the requirements of the computer 
system of the insurer. 
(2) PROTECTION OF CONFIDENTIALITY OF IN-
FORMATION
DISCLOSED.—All information provided 
by a health care provider for purposes of generating 
a quote through the internet site shall be used only 
for that purpose. 
(c) INTEGRATION OF RATING CRITERIA.—The Sec-
retary shall integrate the rating criteria of each insurer 
into its online form after consultation with each insurer. 
The Secretary shall integrate such criteria using one of 
the following methods: 
(1) Developing a customized interface with the 
insurer’s own rating engine. 
(2) Accessing a third-party rating engine of the 
insurer’s choice.
(3) Loading the carrier’s rating information 
into a rating engine operated by the Secretary. 
(4) Any other method agreed on between the 
Secretary and the insurer. 
(d) PRESENTATION OF QUOTES.—After a health care 
provider has answered all the questions appearing on the 
online form, such provider will be presented with quotes 
from each medical malpractice insurer licensed to write 
the coverage requested by the provider. 
(e) ACCURACY OF QUOTES.—Quotes provided at the 
internet site shall at all times be accurate. Whenever any 
insurer changes its rates, such rate changes shall be imple-
mented at the internet site by the Secretary, in consulta-
tion with the insurer, as soon as practicable, but in no 
event later than 10 days after such changes take effect. 
During any period during which an insurer has changed 
its rates but the Secretary has not yet implemented such 
changed rates on the internet site, quotes for that insurer 
shall not be obtainable at the internet site. 
(f) USER-FRIENDLY
FEATURES.—The Secretary 
shall design the internet site to incorporate user-friendly 
formats and self-help guidance materials, and shall de-
velop a user-friendly internet user-interface. 
(g) CONTACT INFORMATION.—The internet site shall 
also provide contact information, including address and
telephone number, for each medical malpractice insurer 
for which a provider obtains a quote at the site. 
(h) REPORT.—Not later than December 31, 2005, 
the Secretary shall submit a report to the Congress on 
the development, implementation and effects of the inter-
net site. Such report shall be based on— 
(1) the Secretary’s consultation with health 
care providers, medical malpractice insurers, State 
insurance commissioners, and other interested par-
ties; and 
(2) the Secretary’s analysis of other informa-
tion available to the Secretary. 
The report shall describe the Secretary’s views concerning 
the extent to which this section has contributed to increas-
ing the availability of medical malpractice insurance, and 
the effect this section has had on the cost of medical mal-
practice insurance. 
SEC. 203. PROCEDURAL REQUIREMENTS FOR MEDICAL 
MALPRACTICE INSURERS’ PROPOSED RATE 
INCREASES. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Each State shall have in effect a 
policy under which— 
(1) any health care professional (as defined in 
title I of this Act) licensed by the State has standing 
in any State administrative proceeding to challenge
a proposed rate increase in medical malpractice in-
surance; and 
(2) a provider of medical malpractice insurance 
in the State may not implement a rate increase in 
such insurance unless the provider, at minimum, 
first submits to the appropriate State agency a de-
scription of the rate increase and a substantial jus-
tification for the rate increase. 
(b) RULEMAKING.—The Attorney General shall pro-
mulgate rules to carry out this section. 
(c) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The requirements of this sec-
tion shall take effect 1 year after the date of the enact-
ment of this Act. 
TITLE III—ENHANCING PATIENT 
ACCESS TO CARE THROUGH 
DIRECT ASSISTANCE 
SEC. 301. GRANTS AND CONTRACTS REGARDING HEALTH 
PROVIDER SHORTAGES. 
Subpart I of part D of title III of the Public Health 
Service Act (42 U.S.C. 254b et seq.) is amended by adding 
at the end the following section.
‘‘SEC. 330L. HEALTH PROVIDER SHORTAGES RESULTING 
FROM COSTS OF MEDICAL MALPRACTICE IN-
SURANCE. 
‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary, acting through 
the Administrator of the Health Resources and Services 
Administration, may make awards of grants or contracts 
in accordance with this section for geographic areas that, 
as determined by the Secretary, have a shortage of one 
or more types of health providers as a result of the pro-
viders making the decision to cease or curtail providing 
health services in the geographic areas because of the costs 
of maintaining malpractice insurance. 
‘‘(b) RECIPIENTS OF AWARDS; EXPENDITURE.—In 
accordance with such criteria as the Secretary may estab-
lish: 
‘‘(1) Awards under subsection (a) may be made 
to health providers who agree to provide health serv-
ices (or to continue providing health services, as the 
case may be) in geographic areas described in such 
subsection for the period during which payments 
under the awards are made to the health providers. 
‘‘(2) Health providers who receive such awards 
may expend the awards to assist the providers with 
the costs of maintaining medical malpractice insur-
ance for providing health services in the geographic 
area for which the award is made.