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For Immediate
Release
10/30/07
Contact:
Joe Pittman
(717) 787-8724
 - Sen. Don White
- Sen. Rafferty
Senate Approves Senator
White's Bill Extending MCARE
SB 1137 also
sets the stage for a phase out of the program
The Senate today approved Senate Bill 1137, a measure
introduced by Senator Don White (R-41) to extend the MCARE
program, which provides a financial safety net to help
Pennsylvania’s health care providers cover their medical
malpractice insurance costs.
Recognizing that the authorization of the MCARE (Medical
Care Availability and Reduction of Error) program ends at
the end of December 2007, Senator White, Chairman of the
Senate Banking and Insurance Committee, introduced
legislation to extend it for one year and prepare for its
eventual elimination.
Changes in the marketplace and the success of a reform
package passed by the Legislature and enacted by Governor
Mark Schweiker in 2002, means Pennsylvania will likely be
able to phase out the program in the foreseeable future,
according to Senator White.
“I am pleased that the Senate has acted quickly to pass
this legislation. As it stands now, MCARE authorization ends
at the end of the calendar year. My bill extends the program
for one year and makes preparations for phasing out the plan
in the future,” Senator White said. “I hope the House will
act just as quickly to put this legislation on the
Governor’s desk.”
The five-year-old MCARE program helps physicians pay a
portion of their medical malpractice insurance premiums. The
fund helps pay toward the cost of the $500,000 in MCARE fund
coverage that the state requires each doctor to secure, in
addition to the $500,000 in primary coverage from the
private marketplace. MCARE assistance is financed primarily
by a 25-cent tax on cigarettes and a surcharge on traffic
citations.
Senator White’s bill allows the state Insurance
Commissioner to more gradually shift health care providers
from publicly funded to privately-purchased medical
malpractice insurance coverage. It would also:
- Require the Insurance Commissioner to make an annual
determination, no later than July 1, on the capacity of
medical malpractice insurance available to providers in the
Commonwealth. Under current law, the Commissioner makes a
determination bi-annually. An annual determination will
allow the Insurance Commissioner greater flexibility in
determining the overall availability of private medical
liability insurance coverage.
- Permit the Insurance Commissioner to increase the
threshold of private coverage required to be carried by
providers in increments as little as $50,000. Current law
requires the commissioner to increase the level of medical
liability coverage in increments no less than $250,000.
Currently, the Commonwealth allocates approximately $220
million annually through the MCARE fund to assist doctors,
hospitals, nursing homes and other medical providers with
the purchase of medical liability coverage.
“MCARE has played a vital role in keeping providers in
Pennsylvania, but thanks to the success of the MCARE reforms
enacted in 2002, the Commonwealth’s role can be reduced and
hopefully eliminated in the near future. Through those
reforms, we are seeing improvements in medical liability
markets and a stabilization of premiums, which have resulted
in premium costs being reduced to a level approximately $115
million below the $220 million allocation,” Senator White
said. “My legislation establishes basic, common sense
restrictions on how dollars not needed for the abatement can
be used.”
Under Senator White’s bill, funds not used for premium
costs would have to be allocated as follows:
- 50 percent would be placed in an escrow account to
reduce the unfunded liability of the MCARE fund;
- 25 percent would be used to establish a medical safety
automation fund (electronic medical records) for grants to
health care providers;
- 25 percent would be used to support the reduction of
health care associated infections.
Additional Information:
Health Care
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