This was copied from another MB with the author's permission:
<<Ladies & Gentlemen:
It has just come to my attention that HR 3741 (The Burton\Waxman Bill) may be on the discussion list very soon. Chairman Michael Bilirakis needs to hear from us NOW. He is more than likely favorable to the Burton\Waxman Bill and will control, to a large extent, whether or not it gets to the House Floor for a vote. He just needs to Hear from us to get this crucial piece of legislation moving. Please, please, please take a minute to contact the Sub-Committee on Health (see below).
Please contact (FAX & e-mail) his office and ask that HR 3741 be brought out of the Health Subcommittee with a favorable report and allowed to move forward to the House floor for a vote. Additional "talking points" are
below.
Contact:
Chairman Michael Bilirakis
Sub-Committee on Health
The Committee on Energy and Commerce
2125 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515
(202) 225-2927
****************(202) 225-1919 FAX **************
Feedback link:
http://energycommerce.house.gov/107/feedback.htm
<
http://energycommerce.house.gov/107/feedback.htm>;
The House <
http://www.house.gov/commerce>; Energy and Commerce Committee has jurisdiction over a wide array of health, environmental, energy, trade, consumer protection and telecommunications issues. Congressman Bilirakis serves as Chairman of the Health Subcommittee, which oversees a large portion of the Medicare program, the Medicaid program, health insurance, public health programs, the Food and Drug Administration, and the National Institutes of Health.
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JZS Talking Points:
Since 1988, the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program (NVICP) has been the principal source of compensation for families whose children have
suffered vaccine-related injuries. The NVICP was intended by Congress to compensate families generously through a non-adversarial process. However, during hearings before the Government Reform Committee, the program has been criticized for becoming overly litigious and less compassionate than intended by Congress.
The National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program Improvement Act of 2002 (H.R. 3741) is bipartisan legislation that builds on a set of recommendations to improve the program put forward by the Advisory Committee on Childhood Vaccines. The bill would:<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns =
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· Extend the statute of limitations for seeking compensation from three years to six years.
· Provide a one-time, two-year period for families to file a petition if they were previously excluded from doing so because they missed the statute of limitations. (Only for vaccine injuries incurred after 1988.)
· Increase the level of compensation to a family after a vaccine-related death from $250,000 to $300,000. The death benefit has remained unchanged since 1986.
· Allow families of vaccine-injured children to be compensated for the costs of family counseling and creating and maintaining a guardianship to administer the funds.
· Allow for the payment of interim attorneys fees and legal costs during the sometimes lengthy adjudication process.
Please support families of vaccine-injured children by cosponsoring HR 3741 today.
Thank You.
Peacefully,
Jeff Sell
Hitt
Patterson Sell
4309 Yoakum Boulevard
2nd Floor
Houston, Texas 77006
713.654.7776
713.654.7789 (fax)
www.HittPattersonSell.com <
http://www.HittPattersonSell.com>;
JZSell@H...
832-731-3145 (cell/v-mail)
Vaccine Injury Alliance
www.vaccineinjury.org <
http://www.vaccineinjury.org>; >>
