Senate Again Approves Bill Extending MCARE

House Bill 489 returns to House for concurrence

Senator Don White (R-41 and Chairman of the Senate Insurance Committee) hailed today's passage of another bill to extend the MCARE program, which provides a financial safety net to help Pennsylvania's health care providers cover their medical malpractice insurance costs.

House Bill 489 was amended in the Senate Appropriations Committee on Monday to provide a one-year reauthorization of the MCARE (Medical Care Availability and Reduction of Error) program, which is set to lapse at the end of 2007.

HB 489, as amended, contains similar language to Senate Bill 1137, an MCARE reauthorization bill introduced by Senator White. SB 1137, approved by the Senate on October 30, has stalled in the House.

"While I am pleased that the Senate has again acted to provide this essential assistance for Pennsylvania's health care providers and the patients they serve, I would hope the House will quickly concur on the bill and send it to the Governor for enactment into law," Senator White said. "With the end of the 2007 legislative calendar at hand, it is essential for the House to move beyond posturing and take decisive action to reauthorize the MCARE program."

HB 489 caps the amount of money that can be reallocated from the MCARE fund for health care cost containments efforts. The bill caps funding next year for the reduction of hospital acquired infections and for grants to establish electronic medical records systems at $25 million each. All remaining money will be placed in escrow to be held against the approximately $1.7 billion future liability in the MCARE fund.

"It is well documented that there is a substantial surplus in the fund today, but that should not be taken as carte blanche to raid MCARE," Senator White said. "Instead, HB 489 provides a prudent and fiscally conservative blueprint for using a portion of the money to meet fund cost containment measures at a reasonable level and meet our long term budgetary obligations."

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.

Contact:

Joe Pittman
(717) 787-8724, cell (724) 541-0552