by KYW's Tony Romeo
Pennsylvania doctors will now have to pay more for malpractice insurance as lawmakers continue to wrestle with Governor Rendell’s push to expand health insurance coverage to more adults.
Governor Rendell has linked extension of the so-called “MCARE Abatement” – a state-funded program to offset malpractice insurance costs – to his effort to expand health insurance coverage.
Authorization of the MCARE Abatement expired at the end of last year, but the governor had extended the deadline for higher bills until now. Now Rendell has sent letters to doctors saying the higher bills are due, and encouraging them to support a bill passed by the House called ABC, or Access to Basic Care:
"If you look at what ABC has in it for doctors, if I was a doctor, I’d be on the horn, yelling at my legislators, ‘pass this bill!'"
Rendell says if the Senate passes the ABC program, the MCARE Abatment will be extended for ten years and doctors will get refunds. But Senate Republican leaders are calling on the House to simply approve a one-year extension of the MCARE Abatement.
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