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American Morning
Ill Will in Pennsylvania
Aired December 31, 2002 - 07:17 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: The doctor could soon be out in Pennsylvania. Surgeons in Scranton are warning that they could effectively go on strike tomorrow. Well, the issue there: skyrocketing costs for malpractice insurance and government proposals that the doctors say are nothing but a band-aid.
Dr. Charles Bannon is chief of surgery at Mercy Hospital in Scranton, Pennsylvania, and he joins us now to talk some more about this.
Good morning, and happy New Year to you, doctor.
DR. CHARLES BANNON, CHIEF OF SURGERY, MERCY HOSPITAL: Good morning, Leon, and happy New Year to you. Thank you.
HARRIS: It may not be a happy New Year for patients who have doctors who are going to be going on strike in Scranton, Pennsylvania. How likely is this to happen?
BANNON: Well, the decision is going to be made later on this morning. What I can tell you for sure without knowing the result of the doctors' final decision is that nobody wants to leave this city. We like it here. We do not want to not take care of our patients. And I think there's general agreement that Governor-elect Rendell has pointed this thing in the right direction, even though he's not in office yet.
But having said all of that, what we're afraid of is, if we take the pressure off and this ultimate solution isn't reached early in this year, next -- at the end of this year if we're -- next year if we're in the same situation, you're going to see doctors leaving in great numbers.
HARRIS: You're...
BANNON: We already can't recruit, which is the most -- go ahead.
HARRIS: I'm sorry. You're saying that...
BANNON: I'm saying...
HARRIS: ... the point is to put -- is to apply pressure here, and to do so is going to mean how many patients here are not going to be able to see their doctors?
BANNON: That remains to be seen. Hopefully no. And we're still treating emergencies and have been right along. And I think that if the decision is made to go back, we will not run into that problem.
But you have to understand that the issue here is access to care. If doctors can't recruit new doctors and if doctors are leaving the state, the situation is going to be infinitely worse a year from now, and the medical infrastructure of the whole state will crumble. And that's what we're trying to avoid. We're trying to keep quality medicine.
And Pennsylvania has been a leader in medicine in this country since Benjamin Franklin and Benjamin Rush (ph). If we lose that -- and that's where our focus is, if we lose that, we really become a second-class state medically with some of the great medical schools and programs, residency training programs in the world.
So, it's a larger issue. It's an issue of actually -- well, as we see it, maintain an access to patient care and seeing that Pennsylvania medicine, and particularly in our area of the state of course maintain that quality.
HARRIS: Well, it's all about a matter of dollars and cents here. How much money are we talking about here? How much are these insurance premiums going up, and what does this mean for doctors?
BANNON: Well, it varies from parts of the state and from specialty to specialty. There are some physicians whose malpractice premiums this year will be $275,000. There has been a general increase of as much as 300 percent across the board. Family practitioners are paying extraordinary high rates now.
So, you can't put one number on it, but they are extremely high in many areas, and to a point where the practices can't stay solvent paying those prices.
HARRIS: All right, let's look at what the solution here that Governor-elect Rendell is offering. I want to hear what you have to say about this. He's come out and said that he wants to go ahead and put an idea into practice the first day he's in office. Let's take a listen to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ED RENDELL, PENNSYLVANIA GOVERNOR-ELECT: A new insurance company was just certified about a week ago, and since they're only insuring prospective cases, they're already showing the effects of those tort reforms, offering 15-20 percent lower premiums. We've got to go further. We've got to pass a certificate of merit rule that no malpractice action can be filed without an accompanying affidavit from a certified medical expert.
We also have to look at reducing the total amount of coverage and somehow getting rid of this catastrophic loan fund, which is a disaster, and making all of the coverage be required to be handled privately.
If we can do those things, I think by summer of next year, we can see a significant reduction of premiums and a return of insurance companies to Pennsylvania.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIS: All right, Dr. Bannon, if that is going to be the commitment coming from the governor's office right now, or first thing tomorrow morning, is that going to be enough to keep doctors from walking away and closing their doors on their patients there?
BANNON: Well, I'll answer that for myself, and then give you some sense of what I think is going to happen. I served with Governor-elect Rendell's task force -- statewide task force to get to the solution to these problems. And I have a lot of confidence in his direction and his ability. I don't -- he's done more and not even been in office than anybody could imagine he would have done.
So, I support everything that he said there, and I think that I'm going to -- I know that I'm going to make that argument with the doctors in the area this morning. And I'm hopeful and cautiously optimistic that they will see that and allow this task force and this then governor to -- and then subsequently the general assembly to permanently solve this problem, and that's what we're looking for.
So, yes, I was very pleased when I saw that live last night, and I think that he says a lot there that's very important and very helpful.
HARRIS: Well, we're glad to have you come on and say what you had to say this morning. Dr. Charles Bannon, chief of surgery at Mercy Hospital there in Scranton, Pennsylvania, thank you very much, and happy New Year to you.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.
Aired December 31, 2002 - 07:17 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: The doctor could soon be out in Pennsylvania. Surgeons in Scranton are warning that they could effectively go on strike tomorrow. Well, the issue there: skyrocketing costs for malpractice insurance and government proposals that the doctors say are nothing but a band-aid.
Dr. Charles Bannon is chief of surgery at Mercy Hospital in Scranton, Pennsylvania, and he joins us now to talk some more about this.
Good morning, and happy New Year to you, doctor.
DR. CHARLES BANNON, CHIEF OF SURGERY, MERCY HOSPITAL: Good morning, Leon, and happy New Year to you. Thank you.
HARRIS: It may not be a happy New Year for patients who have doctors who are going to be going on strike in Scranton, Pennsylvania. How likely is this to happen?
BANNON: Well, the decision is going to be made later on this morning. What I can tell you for sure without knowing the result of the doctors' final decision is that nobody wants to leave this city. We like it here. We do not want to not take care of our patients. And I think there's general agreement that Governor-elect Rendell has pointed this thing in the right direction, even though he's not in office yet.
But having said all of that, what we're afraid of is, if we take the pressure off and this ultimate solution isn't reached early in this year, next -- at the end of this year if we're -- next year if we're in the same situation, you're going to see doctors leaving in great numbers.
HARRIS: You're...
BANNON: We already can't recruit, which is the most -- go ahead.
HARRIS: I'm sorry. You're saying that...
BANNON: I'm saying...
HARRIS: ... the point is to put -- is to apply pressure here, and to do so is going to mean how many patients here are not going to be able to see their doctors?
BANNON: That remains to be seen. Hopefully no. And we're still treating emergencies and have been right along. And I think that if the decision is made to go back, we will not run into that problem.
But you have to understand that the issue here is access to care. If doctors can't recruit new doctors and if doctors are leaving the state, the situation is going to be infinitely worse a year from now, and the medical infrastructure of the whole state will crumble. And that's what we're trying to avoid. We're trying to keep quality medicine.
And Pennsylvania has been a leader in medicine in this country since Benjamin Franklin and Benjamin Rush (ph). If we lose that -- and that's where our focus is, if we lose that, we really become a second-class state medically with some of the great medical schools and programs, residency training programs in the world.
So, it's a larger issue. It's an issue of actually -- well, as we see it, maintain an access to patient care and seeing that Pennsylvania medicine, and particularly in our area of the state of course maintain that quality.
HARRIS: Well, it's all about a matter of dollars and cents here. How much money are we talking about here? How much are these insurance premiums going up, and what does this mean for doctors?
BANNON: Well, it varies from parts of the state and from specialty to specialty. There are some physicians whose malpractice premiums this year will be $275,000. There has been a general increase of as much as 300 percent across the board. Family practitioners are paying extraordinary high rates now.
So, you can't put one number on it, but they are extremely high in many areas, and to a point where the practices can't stay solvent paying those prices.
HARRIS: All right, let's look at what the solution here that Governor-elect Rendell is offering. I want to hear what you have to say about this. He's come out and said that he wants to go ahead and put an idea into practice the first day he's in office. Let's take a listen to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ED RENDELL, PENNSYLVANIA GOVERNOR-ELECT: A new insurance company was just certified about a week ago, and since they're only insuring prospective cases, they're already showing the effects of those tort reforms, offering 15-20 percent lower premiums. We've got to go further. We've got to pass a certificate of merit rule that no malpractice action can be filed without an accompanying affidavit from a certified medical expert.
We also have to look at reducing the total amount of coverage and somehow getting rid of this catastrophic loan fund, which is a disaster, and making all of the coverage be required to be handled privately.
If we can do those things, I think by summer of next year, we can see a significant reduction of premiums and a return of insurance companies to Pennsylvania.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIS: All right, Dr. Bannon, if that is going to be the commitment coming from the governor's office right now, or first thing tomorrow morning, is that going to be enough to keep doctors from walking away and closing their doors on their patients there?
BANNON: Well, I'll answer that for myself, and then give you some sense of what I think is going to happen. I served with Governor-elect Rendell's task force -- statewide task force to get to the solution to these problems. And I have a lot of confidence in his direction and his ability. I don't -- he's done more and not even been in office than anybody could imagine he would have done.
So, I support everything that he said there, and I think that I'm going to -- I know that I'm going to make that argument with the doctors in the area this morning. And I'm hopeful and cautiously optimistic that they will see that and allow this task force and this then governor to -- and then subsequently the general assembly to permanently solve this problem, and that's what we're looking for.
So, yes, I was very pleased when I saw that live last night, and I think that he says a lot there that's very important and very helpful.
HARRIS: Well, we're glad to have you come on and say what you had to say this morning. Dr. Charles Bannon, chief of surgery at Mercy Hospital there in Scranton, Pennsylvania, thank you very much, and happy New Year to you.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.
