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By Matthew Mosk and John Wagner
Washington Post Staff Writers
Friday, December 31, 2004; Page A01
Maryland Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. (R) predicted that he will have
trouble preventing Democratic lawmakers from securing final passage
of their plan to address the state's malpractice insurance crisis,
even though he intends to veto it next week.
Democrats overcame strong Republican resistance and passed a
compromise bill in the predawn hours yesterday with margins large
enough to fend off Ehrlich's threatened veto -- completing the
primary mission of the state's first special legislative session in
12 years.
As lawmakers dropped confetti on the House floor to celebrate the
close of the two-day session, the governor declared the hastily
called convention a washout.
"The first attempt at comprehensive reform failed," Ehrlich said.
"It's going to be difficult to sustain the veto, but we're going to
try."
Ehrlich described the Democrats' initiative as too light on the
legal reforms he sought and said it was unacceptable because it
would levy a 2 percent tax on HMO premiums to finance short-term
rate relief for doctors.
But in forging ahead with a veto, the governor appeared to be losing
the support of some doctors who invested significant muscle in his
campaign for a malpractice insurance overhaul.
As health care advocates pored over the 79-page bill, which was not
handed out to lawmakers until 2:30 a.m., they expressed support for
a key component offering immediate relief from an average 33 percent
insurance rate increase set to take effect New Year's Day for most
Maryland doctors.
Watching the vote from the gallery were white-coated surgeons,
several of whom said they were headed for an awkward political fix.
After spending the better part of 2004 rallying behind Ehrlich in
his push for a solution to rising malpractice insurance rates, they
found themselves disagreeing with the governor's plans for a veto.
"I really hope, in the spirit of compromise, he swallows his pride
and signs the bill," said Mark Seigel, a Montgomery County
obstetrician-gynecologist and past president of the Maryland State
Medical Society.
"Half a loaf is better than nothing," said Seigel, a registered
Republican who said he voted for Ehrlich in 2002. "I would be very
disappointed if the governor vetoes this bill."
Ann Burke, an obstetrician-gynecologist in Silver Spring, said she
could not imagine why Ehrlich would veto the bill after all it took
to get it passed.
"It's very disappointing, because I feel we as the physician
community did exactly what he asked us to do," Burke said. "We got
ourselves organized. We got ourselves mobilized. . . . We did
everything that he asked us to do, and now it looks like he's going
to stand us up at the altar."
Ehrlich's nine-month push for medical malpractice legislation came
to a head this week when he summoned the General Assembly into a
rare special session over objections from Democrats, who control
both chambers. Never in recent memory had a governor called such a
session without having an agreement in hand. In this case, there
were rifts not only with the governor, but between House and Senate
leaders.
After two long days of work, the chambers negotiated a compromise
and prepared a unified bill to send to Ehrlich. House members
approved the measure by a vote of 85 to 44; the Senate passed it 32
to 13 about half an hour later, at 3:33 a.m. Even before the votes
were cast, though, Ehrlich stood before a bank of television cameras
to announce his veto plans.
Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller Jr. (D-Calvert) said he
considered the move rash and ill-advised and added yesterday that he
is holding out hope that Ehrlich "comes to his senses" and signs the
bill.
Given the margins by which the bill passed in both chambers, Miller
said, Ehrlich ought to "look in the mirror and say, 'Maybe, I'm not
right.' "
Democrats indicated that they will probably try to override
Ehrlich's veto Jan. 11, the day before the regular session begins,
when votes on several other vetoed bills are scheduled. With a
three-fifths vote required to override a veto, Democrats would need
85 votes to succeed in the House, the same number they received
yesterday morning, even with 12 members absent.
As House Majority Leader Kumar P. Barve walked off the floor shortly
after the 3 a.m. vote, he pointed triumphantly to the 85 votes and
boasted, "That's veto-proof!"
Later yesterday, Barve (D-Montgomery) said in an interview he feels
confident that Democrats will have little trouble reviving the bill
in the House. Success in the Senate would require 29 votes, and the
bill passed with 32.
Ehrlich, who said he initially believed he would have an easier time
chipping away at Democratic unity in the Senate, said he was no
longer sure.
"It appears when the president of the Senate yanks chains, everyone
follows," Ehrlich said.
Ehrlich said he now plans to introduce a bill in the regular session
that will offer more sweeping legal changes than those passed by
lawmakers this week. Miller cautioned that there will be little
appetite for that come January.
"We took the hard votes," Miller said. "He took a walk. Now it's
time to move forward."
Ehrlich said doctors he has heard from are divided about the bill.
The most positive reviews, he said, were for a provision that would
limit doctors' insurance increases next year to 5 percent, rather
than the 33 percent being charged by the state's largest malpractice
carrier.
"It pays them. It's a subsidy," Ehrlich said. "There's no doubt
about that."
But Ehrlich said most doctors also seem angry and frustrated that
there were not more legal changes in the bill to curb escalating
jury awards, which doctors blame for their insurance increases.
Steven L. Diehl, a Hagerstown physician who watched the debate from
the gallery, said he still trusts Ehrlich to deliver the reforms he
has promised. "A month ago, there was no chance of a special
session," Diehl said. "We've made real progress."
Former delegate D. Bruce Poole said yesterday that if health care
and insurance executives determine that the bill will help reduce
rates, they will urge the governor to reconsider. "If they say what
the legislature did will make a substantial impact on the long-term
market, they are going to put pressure on him to sign the bill," he
said.
Ehrlich said he would produce an analysis next week that he
predicted would show the bill having a limited effect on holding
down rates.
Republican lawmakers defended the governor's decision to forge ahead
with the session, even as they declared it a failure.
Senate Minority Leader J. Lowell Stoltzfus (R-Somerset) blamed the
outcome on the presiding officers in the House and Senate. Stoltzfus
said Miller and House Speaker Michael E. Busch (D-Anne Arundel) had
agreed to rally behind the governor's initiative but abandoned it
when the session got underway.
Ehrlich "would have never called this session if he thought they
would play games like this," Stoltzfus said. "He got absolutely lied
to."
Busch said that if the governor is not satisfied, he has only
himself to blame.
"If the governor had come to a compromise on a funding source, he
could have played a strategic role in negotiating tort reform,"
Busch said.
Staff writer Susan Levine contributed to this report.
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