Politics on the Hudson

   Gov. David Paterson announced today that he signed legislation to put a one-year freeze on medical malpractice rates for New York physicians and suspend an anticipated surcharge until June 30, 2009. The bill was part of the budget-reduction package the governor signed into law this week. Without it, many physicians would have seen a rate increase of as much as 30 percent, according to the governor.

   “I want to thank the Legislature for stabilizing malpractice rates for the short term, thereby ensuring that our doctors can continue to provide quality care in New York without getting suffocated by more back-breaking fiscal burdens,” Paterson said in a statement. 

   Senate Majority Leader Dean G. Skelos, R-Nassau County, said the legislation is a temporary fix ”that will give us more time to work out new reforms and solutions to this complex problem that is in the best interests of everyone that would be impacted.”

   New York has among the highest medical malpractice insurance rates in the nation.