By Peter Jackson
A state court overruled Pennsylvania's top insurance regulator in a decision made public Monday, siding with hospital officials and doctors who said a supplemental medical malpractice insurance fund is keeping too much of their money.
Commonwealth Court's 5-2 ruling directed Insurance Commissioner Michael Consedine to recalculate assessments levied on health care providers through MCare for 2009, 2010, and 2011.
The 2002 MCare program - the abbreviation stands for Medical Care Availability and Reduction of Error - was designed to help providers cope with soaring malpractice insurance rates by providing coverage beyond what the law requires them to buy on their own.
At issue is whether state officials should have counted accrued balances in the MCare fund when calculating the annual assessments. The state contends that those balances - which totaled $104 million in 2008 - should be excluded from the assessment formula.
Currently, the assessments are set at 110 percent of the fund's claims and expenses for the previous year, according to court papers.
But the court agreed with the petitioners in concluding that the law clearly intended for such balances to be part of the calculation - presumably resulting in a reduction of provider assessments that have been growing by 18 to 21 percent a year.
The Insurance Department declined to comment on the ruling. Calls to the petitioners - including the Hospital and Healthsystem Association of Pennsylvania and the Pennsylvania Medical Society - were not returned.
Source: Associated Press
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