Special session on medical malpractice insurance reform sought
HARRISBURG – A special session on property tax reform hasn’t even started yet, and three Bucks County lawmakers are already calling for a second special session – to address medical malpractice insurance reform. Reps. Chuck McIlhinney, R-Doylestown, Paul Clymer, R-Perkasie, and Kathy Watson, R-Warminster, on Tuesday began circulating a petition among legislators that would order Gov. Mark Schweiker to convene a special session.
The GOP lawmakers say medical malpractice insurance rates continue to soar for physicians in certain specialties and, unless it becomes more affordable, physicians will leave Pennsylvania to practice in states with cheaper rates.
“The health care climate in southeastern Pennsylvania, particularly for the people we represent in Bucks County, is in serious jeopardy because of the medical malpractice insurance crisis,” McIlhinney said. “Because the health of Pennsylvania’s patients is at high risk due to this crisis, we must have a special session as soon as possible to resolve the matter. Nothing is more important than Pennsylvanians’ health.”
The state Constitution requires the governor to call a special session if a majority of legislators sign a petition requesting one. Sen. Lisa Boscola, D-Bethlehem (Northampton), first utilized the provision earlier this summer to get Schweiker to call a special session on property tax reform. The session is scheduled to start Sept. 4. Every previous special session has been convened by the governor’s own initiative.
Although lawmakers are already swamped with extra work between the special session on property tax reform and November’s election, the Bucks legislative trio believes their colleagues will make time for a special session on medical malpractice reform.
“I think this one maybe in some ways might be less difficult,” Watson said. “I think there might be more solutions that we can all agree to as opposed to the property tax issue, which is a very involved problem to try to resolve.”
Since 1997, the state’s major malpractice insurers increased their rates between 80 percent and 147 percent, according to the Pennsylvania Medical Society. Doctors in specialties at high risk of being sued – neurosurgeons, orthopedic surgeons, general surgeons and obstetricians – have been hit hardest by the insurance spikes. Some of them, unwilling to pay the skyrocketing rates or, in some cases, unable to renew their policies at all, are moving out of the state altogether.
Earlier this year, the Legislature took up medical malpractice reform with some success, passing wide-ranging tort reforms. The new law is expected to reduce the number of lawsuits filed against physicians and hospitals and thereby lower their insurance rates. But McIlhinney said the benefits of the new law probably won’t be seen for another couple years. In the meantime, insurance premiums for physicians continue to soar in Pennsylvania.
“We did a lot of tort reform issues on the lawsuit side, but we need to do something about the insurance side,” he said. “A number of doctors’ insurance plans expire on Oct. 31 and Dec. 31 and they’ve been told by their insurance carriers that they won’t be able to renew … I’ve got a list of 50 doctors who can’t get an insurance quote.”
Watson has a couple of ideas that she thinks could help.
First, she wants to lower insurance premiums for the Professional Liability Joint Underwriting Association. The JUA is the “insurer of last resort” for medical malpractice in Pennsylvania and generally covers those physicians who are unable to obtain private insurance coverage. The JUA is obligated by Pennsylvania statute to insure all physicians who apply for coverage, but it sets its rates much higher than other insurance companies to avoid taking away their clients.
Because so few insurance carriers now offer policies to doctors in Pennsylvania, Watson said there’s no danger of the JUA taking business away from other insurers, so its rates should be lowered.
Second, Watson proposes that some specialties be exempt for a couple years from paying into the Medical Professional Liability Catastrophe Loss Fund. In addition to purchasing insurance from private carriers, doctors must also purchase coverage from the state-run fund, which shares the malpractice awards load for doctors along with private insurers.
Watson said her proposed changes could be temporary, “for the next year or two until market settles” back to normal.
The Bucks lawmakers said they want to start the special session immediately, before the Legislature ends its regular session on Nov. 30. But first a majority of House members – 102 – and Senate members – 26 – must sign the petition. It would then be up to Schweiker to set a start date.