MD BANKRUPTCY: Not a New Issue, Sacramento Bee Says

      According to a Sacramento Bee editorial, the fact that "as many as 90% of California physician organizations are poised for bankruptcy or closure because they are on shaky financial ground" is nothing new, despite the California Medical Association's spin to the contrary. The editorial points out that "[f]or years, many groups have failed to balance their books" and CMA's prediction of 34 more group failures in 1999 "signals more of the same, not some new 'epidemic.'" Just why the groups are failing is difficult to say, but the editorial notes that "successful financial organization[s]" have doctors who receive enough money and can manage their own affairs. The Bee concludes: "California's health care evolution must encourage medical groups to grow larger and stronger while regulators do a better job of monitoring their solvency." Gov. Gray Davis should not "unwisely stymie" this growth by "proposing a two-year moratorium on letting new groups assume financial responsibility for both doctor and hospital care. This market evaluation is necessary. Government's job is to help prevent patients from getting harmed along the way" (9/8).