PA’s Insurance Hypocrisy

I saw a commercial during an episode of Jeopardy from the Pennsylvania Insurance Fraud Prevention Authority. It warns people against trying to buy car insurance after an accident — which is illegal and represents insurance fraud. Here is the ad:

The law makes perfect sense — being able to receive an insurance claim settlement without having paid into the system drives up costs for those who have insurance. It also creates incentives to go without insurance until something bad happens.

In a nutshell, higher costs for insurance combined with no penalties for lack of insurance results in more uninsured drivers.

Oddly enough, the same government that polices auto insurance fraud will soon be working to encourage people to buy health insurance after they get sick. The new federal health care law forces insurance companies to cover people who sign up only after becoming ill or injured, and even prevents them from charging these folks more. The result will be higher costs and more uninsured residents.

Pennsylvania in Budget Hole Due to Medicaid Gamble

Pennsylvania, like most states, gambled on getting an extension of increased federal matching funds for Medicaid. It lost.

Now it’s talking about laying off teachers and emergency responders.

Medical-Tort Law: Ranking the States

How much do a state’s laws governing medical malpractice and other torts relevant to health care affect the availability of care?  Plenty!

Lawrence J. McQuillan’s & Hovannes Abramyan’s 2010 edition of the U.S. Tort Liability Index, which has a number of measurements included in the U.S. Index of Health Ownership, ranks states according to 42 variables.

Eight of the measurements in the U.S. Tort Liability Index are relevant to the U.S Index of Health Ownership: One output and seven inputs. The previous edition of the U.S Index of Health Ownership included six measurements of medical tort, but McQuillan & Abramyan have discovered more variables for their 2010 edition of the Tort Liability Index, allowing more detailed measurement.

As a partial update of the U.S. Index of Health Ownership, this brief analysis calculates a medical-tort index from a simple average of the eight relevant variables.  Mississippi, Nevada, Michigan, Colorado, and Louisiana lead the pack; while Vermont, Rhode Island, Kentucky, Pennsylvania, and Iowa bring up the rear. Even the leaders, however, lag in some measurements.

Mississippi, for example, leads on procedural rules: Pre-trial screening or arbitration and conditions on the use of expert witnesses. However, it does not limit lawyers’ ability to abuse their privilege by limiting their share of awards. Colorado and Louisiana also fail to impose limits. Unfortunately, the laggards do not show a similar pattern: The bottom five states perform poorly in all eight measurements.

Reducing the burden of medical tort is critical to increasing Americans’ health ownership and reducing medical costs that curtail our access to care. Some progress is evident, but states aiming to improve their medical-tort laws still have a long way to go.

U.S. District Judge Denies Governors on Lawsuit

Last week, Gov. Chris Gregoire of Washington, Gov. Ed Rendell of Pennsylvania, Gov. Bill Ritter of Colorado, and Gov. Jennifer Granholm of Michigan all filed a motion in federal court, seeking permission to submit a friend of the court brief. They wanted to go in the record in favor of the new federal health care law, in the case that some states are bringing against the U.S. Government. In at each of the four states, Republican attorneys general joined in the suit over the objections of the Democratic governors.

The federal judge in the case, Roger Vinson, said no, but that the governors may try again should the case go to trial.

Pennsylvania Senate Passes High-Risk Pool Legislation

The Pennsylvania Senate, by a vote of 49-1, has passed a measure to enact a high-risk pool. I think this would be separate from any pool created with federal funds under the health “reform” bill, but I’m not sure.

Nate Benefield has more at the Commonwealth Foundation.

Pennsylvania AG Campaigns on Lawsuit Against ObamaCare

Expect the health “reform” bill to be an issue in races for state offices this year, especially when it comes to governors and attorneys general. In Pennsylvania, one leading candidate for the Republican nomination for governor is talking up his support of a multi-state lawsuit against the U.S. government:

Corbett came to North Huntingdon for a 90-minute question-and-answer session in which he fielded inquiries about health care, his office’s investigation into campaign activities among legislators and staffers, and other issues.

During his address, he spoke at length in support of his decision to join 12 other state attorney generals to challenge the new federal health care law approved earlier this year.

“I signed on because I believe there is a legitimate dispute. We have a leg to stand on,” Corbett said.

He pledged to use the power of the governor’s office to continue the legal fight to overturn the health care bill.

Corbett is currently the state’s attorney general.

A Rally for Health Care Freedom in Pennsylvania

There’s a bill in the Pennsylvania Legislature, as there is in the legislature of most states, to enact the Freedom of Choice in Health Care Act. But it’s languishing in committee, where chairman Rep. Anthony Deluca (D-Allegheny) rules.

Yesterday a few hundred people rallied at the Pennsylvania capitol to lend their support to the legislation, HB 2053, “which would block an individual mandate for health insurance or any fines imposed for failing to comply with the mandate.”

Health Care and the Constitution

Constitutional questions have dogged the health care bill since its introduction. But rather than address these issues head on, supporters of the legislation have shrugged them off. Speaker Nancy Pelosi, when asked where the Constitution grants the power to impose an individual mandate to buy insurance, famously replied, “Are you serious?”

This is the same tactic being used by defenders of the federal takeover of health care in response to the lawsuit against the new law. Pennsylvania Attorney General Tom Corbett, after announcing that he would join a dozen other state attorneys general in a class action challenging the constitutionality of the law, has been attacked by Gov. Ed Rendell, state House and Senate Democrats and newspapers across the commonwealth.

Continue reading at Pittsburgh Live.

Appropriations Chair Threatens to De-Fund PA Attorney General

In a response to Pennsylvania Attorney General Tom Corbett’s decision to join 13 other states in filing a lawsuit against the federal health care legislation, PA House Appropriations Chairman Dwight Evans threatened to “do whatever it takes” to thwart the AG’s efforts. Incensed, Evans even went so far as to say he would be willing to cut off all state appropriations to the Office of the Attorney General to prevent Corbett from fighting this legislation. Here is probably the most priceless quote of his response:

We are accountable to the voters of this state. He cannot think that he can do whatever he wants with taxpayer money. No one can protect him from being accountable.

For starters, Evans should think about following his own advice, as he is one of the most notorious proponents of “WAMs” in the Legislature, using taxpayer dollars going to fund his own community group and a failed nightclub venture.

Second, President Obama, Gov. Rendell, and others used far more taxpayer funding – with no objection from Evans – on their public relations campaign on  health care reform than any lawsuit by the AG would cost. Tax dollars were used for everything from rallies to newsletters to press conferences.

Furthermore, Evans’ threat seems a clear violation of the separation of powers, and threatens the independence of the Attorney General. Indeed, it seems particularly curious, coming a mere two days after Corbett secured a conviction against Evans’ former House Democrat colleague Mike Veon, and is continuing his investigation and prosecution of House Democrats.

Lastly, the lawsuit being filed isn’t over some flippant issue. There are legitimate Constitutional concerns over the legality of this legislation. Not only does the legislation violate the 10^th Amendment, but the fiscal impact of the health care bill will assuredly cost Pennsylvanians billions of dollars.

Gov. Rendell Calls Out AGs Lawsuit

Commenting about Pennsylvania Attorney General Tom Corbett joining AGs in 10 other states in a lawsuit against the federal health care bill, Gov. Rendell had this to say

Because any lawyer worth their salt will tell the governors [sic], that there’s something called the federal supremacy clause and this controls

By implication, the Attorneys General – all of whom are not only lawyers, but the highest ranking attorneys in their states – aren’t worth their salt.

The AGs are suing on the grounds that the federal mandates violate the 10th Amendment to the Constitution, and the supremacy clause doesn’t play a role here. Gov. Rendell may be confused by state legislation that would protect individuals against federal mandates…but he’s still wrong.