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By Andrew A. Green
From The Baltimore Sun
November 19, 2004
Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. told the leaders of the House and Senate
yesterday that he will revise his plan to hold down medical
malpractice insurance premiums, but the three are no closer to
agreement on how to pay for it.
The governor said he saw "a path being blazed" for a special session
before year's end in which the legislature would create a fund to
avoid a 33 percent premium increase - scheduled to go into effect
for most doctors in January - and enact limits on malpractice
lawsuits to hold down premiums in the long term.
Some doctors have said they will have to retire, leave Maryland or
stop performing high-risk procedures if the increase takes effect.
Ehrlich, Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller and House Speaker
Michael E. Busch described their meeting, the first since last
month, as intense and productive. But the three left with basic
disagreements about what went on.
Ehrlich said he has a preferred revenue source for the fund, but he
wouldn't identify it. After emerging from the meeting, Miller and
Busch said that if Ehrlich has a funding source in mind other than
the state's general fund, they don't know what it is.
Miller and Busch said the governor told them that a 2 percent tax on
health maintenance organization premiums was "off the table."
Ehrlich didn't go that far in his comments after the meeting but
said the HMO tax is "not my preferred course."
The three didn't even agree on when they had decided to meet next.
The legislative leaders said they would talk again Wednesday, and
Ehrlich saying the next meeting would be Dec. 1.
A Senate task force studying malpractice issues is scheduled to
complete its recommendations Dec. 1.
The pace of discussions among the staffs of the governor and the
legislative leaders has intensified in recent days, as have talks
with the doctors, trial lawyers, hospitals and insurance companies
that would be affected by a reform package.
Ehrlich said there is substantial agreement on provisions to improve
patient safety. Miller, who has been reluctant to endorse the limits
on lawsuits that Ehrlich has pushed for, known as tort reform, said
the Senate will agree to some of the governor's proposals.
"Hopefully, we can get something done before January," Miller said.
The legislature will return in its regular session in January, but
Ehrlich, Miller and Busch have said they want a solution before the
first of the year so that the rate increase, which is to go into
effect then, won't prompt doctors to leave the state or retire.
With petitions from a majority of both houses of the legislature,
the General Assembly could call a special session without the
governor's consent. Busch has collected the signatures of more than
half of the delegates, but he said he would prefer a solution on
which all sides agree.
"This is our top priority to solve this issue," Busch said. "We are
ready to take action."
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