Damage caps, medical review panel trail
BILL LUCKETT Star-Tribune capital bureau | Posted: Wednesday, November 3, 2004 12:00 am
CHEYENNE - The outlook was not good at press time Tuesday for two proposed constitutional amendments aimed at controlling medical malpractice insurance costs for doctors and hospitals.
Meanwhile, two other constitutional questions had clear majority support of people voting on the issues in early returns, but one of them faced the danger of not receiving majority support of everyone who voted in the election.
Last on the ballot but first in the public debate was Amendment D, which would allow the Legislature to set limits, or caps, on noneconomic damages plaintiffs could recover from health care providers in malpractice cases.
That amendment appeared doomed at press time. With 61 percent of precincts reporting, it had only gotten support of 48 percent of the people who voted on the question, with 66,910 votes. Another 71,605 people voted against it, or 52 percent of those who voted on that issue.
The totals did not include people who cast ballots Tuesday but refused to vote either yes or no on that amendment. Those nonvotes will be counted as no votes.
Another tort reform proposal, Amendment C, which would allow lawmakers to set up a review before a person files a medical malpractice lawsuit, was also struggling.
With 61 percent of precincts reporting, that amendment actually had more people vote for it than against it - 71,672 votes to 67,370 - but with just 52 percent support, the amendment would almost certainly be failing after the nonvotes were added in.
Shauna Roberts, spokesman for Citizens for Real Insurance Reform, a group that opposes both amendments, was encouraged by the returns, and she said people on both sides of the tort reform debate worked hard to educate the public.
"The Citizens for Real Insurance Reform want doctors to stay here. We want access to health care. We want the specialists where we need them," she said. "Now I think we should work together to keep doctors here and hold costs down."
Among the health care access solutions her group favors are a state-seeded self-insurance program for doctors and a state-run excess liability fund.
The amendments aimed to assuring access to health care by reforming the legal system, but supporters and opponents of the issues disagreed on whether Wyoming is losing access to health care, and if so, whether the amendments were the right answers.
Dave Picard, campaign manager for Partnership to Protect Affordable Health Care, which supported the amendments, said the measures were important tools the Legislature needed to ensure access to affordable health care for Wyoming citizens.
He was frustrated that opponents of the amendments moved the issue from health care access to insurance reform, "when the Legislature has looked at every possible avenue afforded them under our constitution to address these concerns," he said. "It's no question that the Legislature recognized that they needed additional tools at their disposal to address the skyrocketing rate of medical liability insurance and to ensure that our doctors would be here when you need one."
Other amendments fare well
The two less high-profile proposed constitutional changes on the ballot Tuesday revolved around the appropriate use and distribution of public money. Both looked as if they would pass, based on returns at press time.
Amendment A would eliminate the current limit on property taxes that may be "recaptured" from the wealthiest school districts and redistributed to poorer districts in the name of school finance equality.
That proposal had received 71,970 votes in favor and 59,024 votes against it with 63 percent of the state's precincts reporting.
That's a margin of about 55 to 45 percent, which places it in sort of a gray area in terms of likely passage, as the Associated Press tally did not report the number of people who voted in the election but refused to vote on the amendment. Those nonvotes will count as "no" votes in the final tally.
The state's three wealthiest school districts would lose $23 million in property tax revenue next year if voters approve the amendment, which some refer to as the "Robin Hood" amendment. That money would help fund all the state's other school districts.
Meanwhile, Amendment B, which would allow local governments to raise and use sales tax revenue on economic development with the consent of voters, appeared to be a lock to pass by press time.
With 63 percent of state precinct results in, that amendment had the support of 88,366 voters, or 66 percent of those who voted on the issue, while 46,327 people, or 34 percent, had voted against it.
Again, the nonvotes were not considered in the tally, but historically, constitutional questions in Wyoming that got support of at least roughly 57 percent of people who voted on the issue have been adopted.
The state constitution forbids state and local governments and other political subdivisions from giving or loaning money to associations and corporations.
Capital bureau reporter Bill Luckett can be reached at (307) 632-1244 or at bill.luckett@casperstartribune.net.