11.   If Congress makes it easier for injured patients to sue health insurance companies, lawyers here will be well prepared.

12.   In recent years, many federal and state judges have made it easier for injured patients to sue insurers for damages.

13.   Injured patients would still be able collect unlimited compensation for medical costs and other economic losses suffered as a result of physician error.

14.   Injured patients may be forced to pursue remedies in state court, where they have recently had some success in winning damages for substandard care, he said.

15.   Injured patients could recover damages to reimburse them for lost earnings, medical expenses and related costs.

16.   Injured patients, he said, would have a federal right to sue health maintenance organizations and insurers in state court.

17.   Injured patients could not sue their employers unless the employers themselves had made the improper decisions to deny benefits.

18.   Ms. Corrigan acknowledged that such information might be used against doctors and hospitals in lawsuits filed by injured patients or their survivors.

19.   That would be unfair to grievously injured patients and do nothing to rein in verdicts for smaller claims.

20.   The bill would make it easier for injured patients to sue health maintenance organizations and other health plans for the denial of promised benefits.