For state, a $110 million question

Daniel Barrick recaps the JUA Lawsuit in the Concord Monitor, and examines what would happen if the state loses the $110 million it seized to balance the state budget.

"Am I concerned? You bet," House Speaker Terie Norelli said last week. "But am I afraid we're about to get knocked off a cliff? Not at all. There is not an immediate crisis."

Still, others say the tensions that accompanied last week's layoff announcement barely hint at the difficult decisions that will be necessary if the state loses its claim to the malpractice money. Some, including Republicans in the Legislature, are calling for Lynch to offer specific plans now in preparation for that outcome.

"Frankly, a hole of the magnitude we're talking about is going to require a top-to-bottom re-evaluation of the budget. You can't just tweak here and there," said Charlie Arlinghaus, president of the Josiah Bartlett Center for Public Policy, a free-market think tank in Concord. "The difficulties get worse the longer you delay."

Justices seem skeptical of state's position in $110M JUA Case

Michael Kitch continues to provide outstanding coverage of the JUA Lawsuit for the Laconia Daily Sun. Since there is no link to each article on the paper's website, we're happy to provide an archive of his coverage here.
Laconia Daily Sun- JUA 10-16-09

State tries to justify $110m seizure

Kevin Landrigan summarizes yesterday's oral arguments in the JUA Lawsuit.

David Leslie, a Boston lawyer representing Attorney General Michael Delaney, said the policyholders had no vested right to the surplus and the Legislature could take at least some of it to support spending on access to health care.

“Do the policyholders have a vested right? They don’t,’’ Leslie argued.

But Kevin Fitzgerald, lead lawyer for the parties that sued the state, said politicians in Concord took the money without any legal foundation.

‘’You can’t take that which doesn’t belong to you, neither can you supplant the plain contractual rights of others,’’ Fitzgerald answered.

"You can't take things that don't belong to you."

Shira Schoenberg reports on yesterday's oral arguments at the Supreme Court in the JUA Lawsuit.

Attorney Kevin Fitzgerald, who represents the policyholders of a state-created medical malpractice fund, summed up the complex litigation over $110 million in nine words: "You can't take things that don't belong to you."

Lawyers for the state and for policyholders of the Joint Underwriting Association's medical malpractice fund argued before the state Supreme Court yesterday over who controls the $110 million sought by Gov. John Lynch and the Legislature to balance the state budget.

Here's my fix for Lynch's problem

It slipped under the radar but the Concord Monitor recently ran an opinion piece on how to solve the state's $100 million dollar JUA budget problem. It's such a simple solution that it just might work.

No JUA? Cut health spending increase
By Thomas R. Eaton for the Monitor
August 13, 2009

Recently Judge Kathleen McGuire did something completely expected. She told Gov. John Lynch and the Democrats in the Legislature that their plan to balance the state budget by taking $110 million from the Joint Underwriting Association was unconstitutional.

This has been expected almost from the moment Lynch first proposed taking the money back in February. The JUA is a nonprofit group, not a government agency. The JUA exists solely to supply medical malpractice insurance to private health care providers, not for any governmental purpose. The $110 million is in a fund the JUA maintains to pay its malpractice claims. The money came from insurance premiums paid by JUA members and belongs to them. Not a penny came from the state or from taxpayers.

Ever since the judge released her decision reporters, editors, bloggers and taxpayers across the state have been transfixed by one simple question: Now that the JUA money is off limits, what is plan B to balance the budget? (more)

SENTINEL EDITORIAL: Are these N.H. advantages?

There are several lawsuits challenging some of the ways Governor Lynch and the Legislature balanced the state budget. (Taking money from the JUA, charging some retirees for health insurance, downshifting retirement costs onto local taxpayers, etc.)

Are these lawsuits a result of the Legislature making bad choices on the budget? Not to the Keene Sentinel. They see it as another indicator of a broken tax system. If we only had an income tax ...

Published: Tuesday, August 11, 2009

These may be the lazy, hazy days of summer for many of us, but the New Hampshire court system is certainly busy dealing with the latest crop of creative revenue streams from the governor and Legislature.

Some retired state employees are suing the state, contending that it’s unconstitutional to deduct health insurance fees from younger retirees’ pension checks, as the state has been doing for the past few weeks. The insurance used to be free, but the fees were added to the 2009-2010 budget to save $5 million. The fees are $65 a month for individuals and $130 for a couple. They apply only to state workers who retire before the age of 65.

“The federal and New Hampshire Constitutions clearly forbid legislation that impairs vested rights,” the retirees’ lawsuit reads. A spokesman for Governor John Lynch counters that the plan is fair. (more)

Charlie Arlinghaus talks JUA

Meet tthe New Press tackles the JUA Lawsuit and its aftermath, 9-11am on Newstalk 1490 WEMJ:

Charlie Arlinghaus is the president of the Josiah Bartlett Center for Public Policy, a free-market think tank in Concord. He also writes an always excellent column every Wednesday in the Union Leader. We will discuss the JUA Lawsuit ruling, its aftermath, and the effect on the already stressed New Hampshire budget. (more)

Listen live on the radio or online. We'll have the podcast when it's available.

JUA Case on Meet the New Press

The ongoing case against the state's attempt to use $110 million from the Joint Underwriting Association has caught the attention of our friends at Granite Grok:

*Our friend Grant Bosse, writing at the NH Watchdog blog notes,

Michael Kitch has been doing some excellent reporting in the Laconia Daily Sun on the legal battle surrounding the state's raid on the Joint Underwriting Association.

Michael joins us to explain this rather strange place for the state to take money- a malpractice medical insurance fund. It seems as though the very sanctity of contracts and trust itself is at stake here. And what happens to the state's budget should it lose in Court?

You can listen to Michael Kitch on Meet the New Press at 9:30. Click the link to listen live.