A battle over Pennsylvania health care

The political well-beings of the two major-party candidates for Pennsylvania governor have been largely shaped by their plans for the physical well-being of others.

Democrat Ed Rendell and Republican Mike Fisher have been battling it out over how to improve the state's health care system, with Fisher saying Rendell's plan "just doesn't work" and Rendell's campaign claiming that Fisher does not even have a real plan.

According to Rendell spokesman Dan Fee, this is because Fisher does not even have any ideas about how to fix health care in Pennsylvania.

"He has not released a plan," Fee said. "There are 1.2 million uninsured Pennsylvanians, many of them children. Mike Fisher has not thought it worthwhile to address this issue."

But Fisher spokesman Kevin Harley called Fee's assertion "typical demagoguery from the Rendell campaign."

With less than three weeks to go until Election Day, Rendell, the former mayor of Philadelphia, leads Pennsylvania Attorney General Fisher by between 15 and 23 points, according to various polls.

In addition, according to the widely-respected Keystone Poll conducted last month, almost twice as many registered voters favor Rendell's health care plan as prefer Fisher's.

Both candidates agree that Pennsylvania's prescription drug coverage plan is among the best in the country, but that coverage for senior citizens must be increased.

Fisher would use the funds from slot machines that both he and Rendell want to install at Pennsylvania racetracks to bolster the state's financially-ailing Lottery Fund, which is the main source of funding for senior citizen drug coverage.

Rendell, who wants to use the slot machine profits to increase state funding of education and in turn reduce property taxes, plans to increase Lottery revenue by hiring new management and introducing new games, like Powerball.

But Fisher said in a debate last week that Rendell's plan "just doesn't work."

"I think Mike Fisher's plan is a lot more realistic than Ed Rendell's plan," Harley said. "The legislature has made it very clear that they will not pass a slots bill unless it's dedicated to the lottery."

Fee said, though, that Fisher's plan is inadequate and that Rendell would increase drug coverage 10 times as much as Fisher would.

Fisher's plan "really doesn't increase coverage as much as Ed's does," Fee said.

Another health care issue is medical malpractice tort reform. According to some, doctors are leaving the Philadelphia region at an alarming rate because of the area's liberal laws concerning malpractice suits.

While Rendell's campaign says their candidate supports tort reform, Harley said the attorney general favors more extensive changes to the law.

Rendell is a "captive of the Pennsylvania Trial Lawyers Association," Harley said. "Mike Fisher's been a leader on [tort reform] and Ed Rendell's a johnny-come-lately to the table."

Fisher won the endorsement of the Philadelphia County Medical Society because of his views on tort reform, according to Society immediate past president Harris Clearfield. Clearfield said that although a bill passed by the state legislature earlier in the year is a good start toward reforming medical malpractice law, the next step is placing a limit on non-economic damages in lawsuits filed against doctors and hospitals.

"We are of the impression that Ed Rendell has absolutely refused to consider a cap on non-economic damages," Clearfield said. "Fisher has taken a somewhat more positive view towards a cap, though he's not excited about it."

Alan Rosenberg, associate executive vice president of Penn's Health System, said neither candidate has addressed the tort reform issue to the satisfaction of some doctors and hospital administrators.

"Neither are strongly in favor of additional reforms, [such as a] cap on non-economic damages," Rosenberg said. "They are supportive generally but neither of them go as far as we'd like."

About the Series

Every Friday until the gubernatorial elections in November, The Daily Pennsylvanian will run an article analyzing the major issues on the minds of Pennsylvania voters and how the major candidates are addressing them.

As polls change, as the advertisements start to heat up, the DP will focus on the angle coming from each candidate's campaign and the perspective provided by political experts and non-partisan analysts, as well as how ordinary Pennsylvanians react to the messages of Ed Rendell and Mike Fisher.

And as the campaigns progress and Nov. 5 approaches, share your thoughts at the dailypennsylvanian.com

gubernatorial race forum.

Please note All comments are eligible for publication in The Daily Pennsylvanian.