SB 1528 defeated, -and- Assembly Committee Passes Bill Changing Medical Damages Ruling

CAL/AAEM News Service calaaem.news.service at gmail.com
Mon Sep 3 11:11:39 PDT 2012


Description: Description: Description: Description: Description: CAL/AAEM:
California Chapter of the American Academy of Emergency Medicine

 

August 31, 2012

 

SB 1528 defeated 

 

Cal/ACEP <http://www.calacep.org/> 

 

 

SB 1528 (Steinberg) - which threatened MICRA protections was defeated 41
votes to 16 on a bipartisan vote

 

 

August 29, 2012

 

Assembly Committee Passes Bill Changing Medical Damages Ruling

 

 

 
<http://www.californiahealthline.org/articles/2012/8/29/assembly-committee-p
asses-bill-changing-medical-damages-ruling.aspx#ixzz259g1QUEG> California
Healthline

 

 

On Tuesday, the Assembly Judiciary Committee approved a bill (SB 1528) that
would alter a 2011 state Supreme Court ruling on medical damages in personal
injury cases, the Sacramento Bee's "Capitol Alert" reports.

 

The committee approved the measure on a party-line vote of 6-3.

 

Details of Legislation

 

Last year, the California Supreme Court ruled in the case of Howell v.
Hamilton Meats that when an injured party's medical costs are covered by a
negotiated insurance settlement, the plaintiff cannot seek additional funds
to compensate for the full cost of health care services.

 

SB 1528 would allow plaintiffs covered by Medi-Cal and other managed care
plans to recover the full cost of care, rather than the amount set by the
negotiated insurance settlement.

 

Comments on Bill

 

Senate President Pro Tempore Darrell Steinberg (D-Sacramento) said the bill
is needed to clarify the Supreme Court ruling so that insurers do not "get
away with" paying lower amounts in certain cases.

 

Steinberg and other supporters of the bill -- including Consumer Attorneys
of California -- argue that it does not overturn the court's decision.

 

However, opponents of the bill -- including businesses and medical and
insurance groups -- told the judiciary committee that the legislation
effectively would reverse the ruling and could undermine state law limiting
pain and suffering damages in medical malpractice cases to $250,000.

 

Insurers said that the ruling saves them and their policyholders as much as
$3 billion annually but that it also reduces contingency fees that
plaintiffs' attorneys can charge.

 

Kaiser Permanente lobbyist Teresa Stark told the committee that "[t]here's
no problem that needs to be solved here" ("Capitol Alert," Sacramento Bee,
8/28).

 

 

 

 

 

Bryan Sloane
Deputy Editor, CAL/AAEM News Service

 

Brian Potts MD, MBA
Managing Editor, CAL/AAEM News Service



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