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Senate Passes Measure To Extend MCARE Program, Keep Doctors In PennsylvaniaHARRISBURG -- The Pennsylvania Senate passed legislation this week that would extend the state's MCARE abatement program for an additional year and help to keep doctors in the Commonwealth, according to Senator James J. Rhoades ( R-29). The three-year-old program, which helps physicians pay a portion of their medical malpractice insurance premiums, was set to expire at the end of the month. House Bill 2041, as amended by the Senate, would extend the program to December 31, 2007. The bill would also improve the administration of the program and allow nursing homes to be eligible for a 50 percent abatement of their MCARE fund payment. Under the current program, the state pays all or part of the premiums that physicians must pay into the Medical Care Availability and Reduction of Error (MCARE) fund. 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. "Pennsylvania's medical community is seeing improvements thanks to the comprehensive patient safety and tort reform provisions of Act 13 of 2002 and the MCARE abatement program," said Rhoades. "Medical malpractice premiums continue to be very high, but the program has helped to keep doctors in the state, and that was our primary goal. Without qualified medical professionals, particularly specialists and obstetricians who've been hit with skyrocketing malpractice premiums, there'd be no one to care for the everyday health needs of Pennsylvanians. We need to help doctors to continue practicing here, and without the MCARE program, more of them could be moving to other states." The bill will also create a Commission on the MCARE fund, to study the future of the Fund, including a detailed evaluation of its projected unfunded liabilities. The measure now moves back to the House for concurrence on Senate amendments.
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