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http:// --> Ashland, Oregon HOME Valley & State Sports Nation & World Opinion/Editorial Classifieds Business Columnists Local Issues Obituaries Weather Archive Revels Etcetera Backpage Hot Topics Most Viewed Forum Photo Galleries Video Readers Polls O-Zone Online Games Movie Preview Special Sections Real Estate Guide Menu Guide Shakespeare Subscribe Contact Us Rate Card Place an Ad Featured Galleries: May 7, 2007 Ashland medical professionals to continue receiving subsidies By Don Jebsen For the Tidings SALEM — A Senate committee voted unanimously last week to preserve a state malpractice insurance subsidy for Ashland physicians and nurse practitioners who deliver babies. The measure, Senate Bill 183, incorporates two amendments offered by Sen. Alan Bates, D-Ashland, a physician. One amendment keeps the Ashland doctors who deliver babies in the program; the other preserves Grants Pass physicians' eligibility in the program. The original bill eliminated the malpractice subsidy for all Ashland physicians when the Legislature used a tighter definition of "rural" to determine which areas would qualify for the program. Ashland physicians who deliver babies protested, saying many of the 350 births they attend every year are in low-income families. Several doctors said they would not continue to deliver babies if they had to pay the full malpractice insurance premium (as much as $53,000) on their own. To keep those Ashland doctors in the program, the committee approved language restoring eligibility for physicians who practice obstetrics "in an area south of Medford as defined by the U.S. Census Bureau." All other Ashland physicians will be taken off the program immediately, Bates told the Health and Human Services Committee, chaired by Sen. Bill Morrisette, D-Springfield. All Grants Pass physicians will remain in the program despite a recent annexation that pushed the city from a rural to urban designation. Physicians there would have been dropped in 2008, but Bates' amendment grandfathers Grants Pass in based on 2004 census figures. Under the bill, obstetrician/gynecologists in rural areas qualify for up to 80 percent rebates on their malpractice insurance premium. Ashland, however, no longer has any obstetrcian/gynecologists. The bill gives family physicians who deliver babies a 60 percent subsidy on their malpractice insurance premiums. "These individuals are doing God's work out in the rural areas," Bates told the committee. "The idea behind this (program) is to retain and recruit," he said. The program began four years ago when the Legislature authorized a $40 million pool to provide malpractice insurance relief for physicians who work in rural Oregon. The money comes from workers compensation premiums and is administered by SAIF Corp. Some $18.5 million remains in the fund, and the program expires in 2011 unless the lawmakers decide to extend it. Morrisette said the measure gives the Legislature time to look for a more permanent solution. Medical personnel who participate in the program must include in their caseload patients without insurance and those on Medicaid or Medicare in proportion to the numbers of the general population who are either uninsured or qualify for the federal medical programs. The bill had to clear the Senate committee by midnight Monday under new legislative rules setting a deadline for clearing their calendars. Don Jepsen is a freelance writer living in Salem. Reach him at [email protected]. Current Comments: It seems obvious that the real fix to the problems is insurance/tort reform. To use taxpayers money given to doctors to then compensate rising costs/profits to the insurance companies is a poor bandaid to a much larger problem. jk - Ashland, OR - May 8th, 8:45 AM Leave a Comment: Advertisement: Advertisement: Paid Advertising: Debt Help Inkjet Printers Payday Loans Free Ringtones Debt Consolidation Security Systems Debt Relief New Hampshire Primary Advertisement: Copyright © 2007 Ashland Daily Tidings and Ottaway Newspapers. All Rights Reserved. Del.icio.us