FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Austin O’Neill 717-787-5490 or aoneill@pasen.gov
HARRISBURG (October 30, 2007) – State Senators John H. Eichelberger, Jr. (R-Blair) and Mike Folmer (R-Lebanon) today stood firm for doctors as the only two to oppose legislation (SB 1137) raiding $100 million from the Mcare Fund to create two new entitlement programs. Mcare is the Commonwealth’s Medical Care Availability and Reduction of Error Program, which was implemented in 2002 to help doctors afford medical malpractice insurance. By law they are required to carry $1 million of malpractice insurance, half of which is subsidized by Mcare. The new entitlement programs: 1) Establish a medical safety automation fund (electronic medical records) for grants to health care providers;
2) Support the reduction of health care associated infections.
Folmer said, “The way to provide relief for our doctors is by enacting meaningful legal reform, not creating new entitlement programs from the insurance reserve money.” Eichelberger concurred, stating, “No actuarial data is available to responsibly take money from the account. Furthermore, by introducing two new programs to be funded from the same source, we’re putting Pennsylvania’s doctors at risk, as these new programs are expected to grow.”
In addition to the current Mcare coverage, Folmer and Eichelberger listed the following legal reforms as crucial components in lowering doctors’ medical malpractice insurance premiums: 1) Capping jury awards for non-economic damages at $250,000; and 2) Replacing “joint and several” liability, also known as the “deep pocket” rule, with proportional liability in civil suits. SB 1137 passed 44-2 and now moves to the House for consideration.
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