Any MCare surplus belongs to health providers

Your Sept. 23 editorial "Hold the Applause" rather cavalierly accepts the notion that the funds from the MCare fund may be used to balance the as-yet-to-be-passed Pennsylvania budget.

These funds represent state-mandated assessments on health-care providers to cover the potential costs of large malpractice settlements. This money is derived almost exclusively from the health-care providers. Any surplus in such funds should be returned to health-care providers either in the form of lower future premiums or a direct rebate.

Instead, the state has chosen, in essence, to confiscate a portion of the surplus for a purpose never intended. We are thus witnessing the de facto excess taxation of a specific class of Pennsylvanians for sheer political expediency. The net effect of this will be to exacerbate even further the ability of the commonwealth to attract heath-care providers.

As a publication that professes a dedication to health-care access and to basic fairness, your acquiescence to the seizure of this money is, to say the least, disappointing.

 

BARRY KISLOFF, M.D.
Churchill