Majority Democrats in a Senate committee approved a measure Monday that doctors and other critics charge will drive up the cost of Colorado health care while driving docs out of the state.

Senate Bill 248, by Senate President Joan Fitz-Gerald, D-Coal Creek Canyon, and Rep. Claire Levy, D-Boulder, authorizes unlimited public hearings when insurance companies raise rates by 5 percent or more. Insurers that represent more than 65 percent of a particular insurance market are covered by the bill.

The measure passed through the Judiciary Committee on a party-line vote of 4-3 and is headed to the full Senate for consideration.

Republicans say the proposal unfairly singles out one medical-malpractice insurer, COPIC Insurance, a nonprofit trust that doctors laud for having helped stabilize malpractice liability rates.

"We're one of the best states in the nation in terms of malpractice insurance climate," said Dr. Jim Holmes, a Denver-area orthopedic surgeon who testified against the bill. "COPIC is the reason for that."

Another physician, Dr. Stephen Hoffenberg, said after Monday's committee action that the bill is being presented as a way to protect doctors from the state's dominant malpractice insurer, yet no such protection is necessary.

"We're not asking for (the bill), we don't need it, and we're not sure what the motivation is of those proposing it," Hoffenberg said.

COPIC doesn't fit the profile of a typical insurer in that it is run by physicians for physicians, the doctors say. They point out that as a result, COPIC does not have to focus on meeting shareholders' profit expectations but rather on keeping rates reasonable for doctors.

"I don't understand why this bill was proposed," Hoffenberg said. 

Critics also charge the bill benefits trial lawyers by encouraging litigation within the courts when companies increase a fee.

“The bill is a hit job by trial lawyers to punish their enemies,” said Sen. Shawn Mitchell, R-Broomfield, following the committee's decision. "It's a blatant political jab at a company that fights trial lawyers to keep the cost of health-care liability low."

COPIC representative Steve Rubin agreed during his testimony to the committee.

“SB 248 adds an extra requirement for unlimited hearings if a doctor’s premium increases, and that creates an uneven playing field with larger, nationwide companies that compete here.”

Rubin argued that opening up every rate hike to unlimited requests for public hearings creates “operational chaos” and opens COPIC up to harassment from competitors and trial lawyers.

Sen. Scott Renfroe, R-Eaton, also charged that SB 248 appears to wrongly single out one insurance business.

"It seems to be an opportunity for trial lawyers to open the books and hunt for something wrong in a single company," said Renfroe, a committee member.

Fitz-Gerald argued that SB 248 increases transparency in the cost of medical malpractice for Colorado residents who pay such rates.

Transparency was not the real motivation behind the bill, according to Mitchell, who said testimony from doctors was overwhelming that they don't want or need the government to control their malpractice insurer.

“COPIC has been protecting Colorado from a full-blown malpractice crisis, the kind that has driven virtually every OBGYN from states that don't have such protection,” explained Mitchell. “It drives the trial lawyers mad, and this bill throws every doctor and patient in Colorado under the bus in order to appease these greedy litigators.”

Dr. Harvey Cohen, representing the Colorado OBGYN Society, testified that SB 248 is bad for the state, and if approved, could continue to prompt doctors to relocate outside of Colorado.

“The flight of Colorado physicians to other states is enormous,” Cohen said. “Don’t pass a law to put us back to 1985 (before the Health Care Availability Act).”

Mitchell added, "The majority is making another payoff to the special interests that support this legislation."