Don’t Raid The Fund

This should not go unnoticed.

Increases the one-time $175 million transfer from the fund that helps pay legal awards in medical malpractice cases by at least $25 million. The transfer will be fought in a lawsuit to be filed by the Medical Society of Wisconsin - a suit that may take years to resolve.

Agreeing to this would be horribly irresponsible. 

The PCF is a segregated fund that is filled with a special taxes on health care providers.  The fund is used to pay huge malpractice verdicts - essentially catastrophic coverage for malpractice.  This keeps the cost of malpractice insurance, which has driven some specialties out of some states, under control.  The Medical Society plans to sue because those funds are not supposed to be a general tax for general purposes.  If the funds are used for the general fund, it would violate the uniformity clause of the Wisconsin constitution because it would essentially be a special tax on a special group of citizens - doctors. 

And… the doctors will almost certainly win the lawsuit. 

When the doctors win, it will require that the that the $200 million be put back into the fund or returned to the doctors.  Where will that money come from?  What will be cut?  Or what taxes will be raised?  It is irresponsible to raid that fund and almost guarantee a $200 million budget hole for a future legislature and the citizens of Wisconsin.