In response to increasingly high malpractice insurance costs in Pennsylvania, medical students from across the state warned that they will practice elsewhere if the situation here does not improve.
Last week, some 1,200 medical students from six schools in Pennsylvania wrote a letter to Governor Ed Rendell and several state legislators expressing their intentions to leave the state if liability insurance costs remain high.
In the letter, according to The Chronicle of Higher Education, students requested that Rendell decrease liability insurance costs through a possible amendment to the state constitution.
Participating students attend the Lake Erie and Philadelphia Colleges of Osteopathic Medicine, University of Pittsburgh and Temple, Thomas Jefferson and Pennsylvania State universities.
"Once I'm done with my residency, if it's not fixed by then, I will probably not practice in Pennsylvania," Temple medical student Chris Kizina said.
Although medical students at Penn were not involved in sending the letter to Pennsylvania officials, they echoed similar sentiments regarding the high liability insurance costs.
"Certainly, it's a concern when considering where I want to practice," said first-year Medical student Kevin Downes. He added that he "would consider going somewhere else" if things did not change by the time he is ready to go into practice.
"It doesn't obviously affect me now because I'm a medical student," said fourth-year Med student Adam Cohen. But, he added that the insurance rates are negatively affecting the practicing doctors he is around, and that "it is clear as day how frustrated they are."
Cohen also said that if the costs do not improve before he graduates, it would "definitely affect my decision to practice here."
This problem is not a new one and does not only affect medical students. Between 1997 and 2002, liability insurance rates increased by around 200 percent, according to the Pennsylvania Medical Society. This rate of growth continued through 2003.
In a press release, PMS President Howard Richter said, "Many high-risk physicians are deciding they can no longer afford to continue practicing in Pennsylvania."
"It is very difficult to recruit new physicians to our state," he added.
In response to problems caused by the high insurance rates, Rendell has passed a temporary bill, offering physicians a 50 percent reduction in the amount they must pay to the state, according to the Chronicle.
