TRENTON – Senator Joseph F. Vitale, today said the subsidy checks of nearly $11,000 being mailed out to doctors under the new medical malpractice insurance reform law represent “real premium assistance” to the 1,200 recipients who applied for them.
“This is real money in any profession, but it shows the law is working to help doctors in the high-risk specialty fields,” said Senator Vitale, D-Middlesex, and Senate sponsor of the medical malpractice reform. The State announced the first checks were mailed out today.
“The bottom line is we want doctors to stay in New Jersey so they can be there when New Jersey patients need them for both the short term and the long term,” Senator Vitale said. Doctors receiving subsidies in the first year of the three-year program under the new law are obstetric gynecologists, neurosurgeons and radiologists who do mammograms, according to regulations set by the Department of Banking and Insurance.
“This premium assistance fund set up under the law was made whole by assessments on a wide array of stakeholders including lawyers and other professions,” Senator Vitale said. “Beneficiaries of this fund also include charity care, FamilyCare program and the loan reimbursement program for obstetricians and gynecologists who practice in New Jersey.”
Under the new law, further review of insurance premiums paid by doctors could expand the list of eligible specialties.