A state-created organization that aims to provide malpractice insurance doctors and healthcare facilities is threatening to sue if Pennsylvania lawmakers proceed with a plan to take $200 million of its funding in order to patch a budget gap.
The Pennsylvania Professional Liability Joint Underwriting Association (JUA) was created by state law more than 40 years ago to offer professional liability insurance to healthcare providers. However, the organization isn’t funded by taxpayer dollars. The JUA threatened to sue after a state senate committee amended a budget bill to abolish the organization if it refused to cough up the money. The JUA said that since its funding came exclusively from policyholder premiums, the government had no right to the money.
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The Pennsylvania General Assembly wants the cash because it’s trying to figure out how to cover a recently approved $32 billion spending plan for the 2017-2018 budget year. It’s not the first time the state has tried to raid the JUA’s coffers. Last year, Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf signed a bill that mandated that the JUA turn over $200 million, which the state said it would pay back over a five-year period. The association is pursuing legal action to block that cash grab, as well.
“The commonwealth of Pennsylvania does not fund 00 and has never funded – any of the JUA’s operations,” the organization said in a court filing. “Rather, the JUA is funded – and has always been funded – entirely by policyholder premiums and investment income and returns.”
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