Health care-malpractice legislative dispute goes on

In out litigious society, malpractice lawsuits have grown into an epidemic. While people are due compensation in the case of an improper action by a doctor, these lawsuits cause the cost of health care to rise exponentially. The reason they rise is the cost of the malpractice insurance for the doctors goes up and they pass that cost on to the fees for the patients. This is an article on how Pa is trying to solve the problem in the legislature. This is a major prong of the problems involved in the rising cost of health care.

Health care-malpractice legislative dispute goes on

Faced with a Monday deadline, Senate Republican leaders yesterday called on House leaders to consider legislation that would extend for another year a program that reduces doctors' costs for malpractice insurance.

The issue of extending the reductions through the state's MCare abatement program "should be considered on its own merits," said Senate Majority Leader Dominic Pileggi, R-Chester, who issued a joint statement with Senate President Pro Tem Joe Scarnati, R-Jefferson, and Banking and Insurance Committee Chairman Don White, R-Indiana.

But Gov. Ed Rendell and House Democrats, who control that chamber, have linked the reductions, known as MCare abatements, to a House bill that would extend more affordable health insurance to the state's uninsured.

Mr. Rendell set a Monday deadline for progress on the combined package. Earlier this week, he began sending letters to the state's doctors saying the deadline would not be met and that the higher bills were coming due.

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