Wisconsin Governor Proposes Using Money from Malpractice Fund To Pay for Public Health Programs

Wisconsin Gov. Jim Doyle (D) has proposed taking $200 million from the state Patients Compensation Fund, which covers medical malpractice insurance cases, to help pay for medical assistance programs that serve people who are elderly, poor or disabled, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports. Providers are required to pay annual fees to the fund, which was created in 1975 to address rising medical malpractice insurance rates. In return, they receive unlimited coverage for malpractice claims that exceed the limits on their private malpractice insurance plans. By law, providers are required to have a plan that covers a minimum of $1 million per incident and $3 million per year. David Riemer, Doyle's budget director, said the governor's plan to transfer money from the fund would work because the fund contains nearly $600 million, much higher than the $39.5 million in claims and expenses it paid in 2001. Riemer added that the fund is "on a path to become an endowment under which prior generations of doctors will have paid millions to create a situation in which future doctors and other providers won't have to pay anything." The governor said that he would replenish the money he plans to transfer in case the fund goes bankrupt. However, Mark Adams, general counsel for the Wisconsin State Medical Society, said the plan would increase providers' fees, and as a result, consumers, employers and private insurers would experience increased health costs. Adams added that Wisconsin, unlike many other states, is not experiencing problems with increasing medical malpractice premiums, partly because of the fund's large balance. State Sen. Dale Schultz (R), chair of the Senate Insurance Committee, said the law that created the fund does not allow money to be transferred out of it. "If we're going to work with the Doyle administration to fill a hole in this budget, then we have to be real about where we get the money," Schultz said. He added that state Insurance Commissioner Jorge Gomez will address legislators about Doyle's proposal in a March 17 hearing (Jones, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 2/27).