After a vigorous debate, the Maryland House of Delegates gave final approval this afternoon to its version of a medical malpractice bill, setting the stage for negotiations with the Senate over unified legislation to send to Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. (R).
The House voted 76 to 46 to approve its bill, which includes a tax on HMOs and several measures designed to curb payouts in medical malpractice lawsuits. The Senate approved legislation last night that includes the HMO tax but contains fewer legal changes.
The House vote set the stage for an afternoon of negotiations with the Senate on a unified bill, which lawmakers hoped to have on the governor's desk by the end of today, the second full day of this holiday legislative session.
Ehrlich, who called lawmakers to Annapolis for the rare special session, spent time this morning personally lobbying Democrats outside the House chamber, and then reiterated to reporters his threat to veto any bill that includes an HMO tax. That threat was invoked repeatedly by House Republicans, who voted in a block against the measure.
"The first rule of medicine is do no harm," said Del. Herb McMillan (R-Anne Arundel). "This bill does harm."
But Democrats expressed outrage at the governor's position, saying the so-called HMO tax was merely an attempt to close a 30-year-old loophole afforded to the insurers before they became so profitable. Moreover, they said the new tax revenue was needed to pay for a proposed fund to provide short-term relief to Maryland doctors, most of whom face a 33 percent increase in insurance rates that take effect Saturday.
""We're not down here to protect the corporate profits of HMOs," House Speaker Michael E. Busch (D-Anne Arundel) said in a news conference after the vote.
While House and Senate leaders began searching for accord on a bill for the governor, Ehrlich continued to blast the lawmakers for not adhering to the bill he submitted.
Ehrlich told reporters he believes the legal changes in the Senate legislation are so weak that they would do "literally nothing" to hold down malpractice insurance rates in the future. He was less critical of the House legislation, but said it also falls short of a bill drafted by his administration that was rejected by both chambers of the General Assembly.
"I am not going to take a phony political victory," Ehrlich said.
Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller Jr. (D-Calvert) said that Ehrlich has been too quick to judge the outcome of the special session. Miller said that during upcoming negotiations, the best parts of the Senate bill would be combined with the best parts of the House bill, which includes more of the legal reforms that Ehrlich is seeking.
"He's new to this process," Miller said of the governor, who was elected in 2002.
Miller also questioned whether Ehrlich truly wants to see the legal changes, known as tort reform, enacted into law.
"He doesn't really care about tort reform," Miller said. "It's just: 'Read my lips, no new tax increases.'"
