Mr. President. I rise today to introduce legislation to save community and migrant health centers millions of dollars and use those savings to enhance health care services for Americas poorest citizens. This bill enjoys the support of the National Association of Community Health Centers. the Association of Maternal and Child Health Programs. and the American Association of State and Territorial Health Officers. Although the latter two organizations would not directly benefit from this legislation. they understand the need to address the issue of malpractice coverage for health professionals who serve in medically underserved areas and see this as a first step in developing a wide range of new answers to old problems. Community and migrant health centers were created in 1966 to provide highquality health care to patients who. due to poverty. disability. or geographic location normally received little or no health care. Today there are 540 centers across the country with nearly 2.000 clinic sites. Given the limited funding available to community and migrant health centers. and an increasing demand nationally for their services. the time has come to reduce the burden on these centers of the excessive expense for malpractice insurance. Health care costs now account for 11.6 percent of the gross national product. and Congress is faced with the spectre of increasing costs for publically sponsored health care. Congress must examine every Federal dollar spent in the area of health care and make certain that taxpayer dollars are used wisely.