From left: PA Partner Rich Hart; Senator Wagner; Keystone President and CEO David Boedker; Executive VP of Property & Casualty Joseph Joyce.
Wagner told the group he has worked for 4 years in the state Senate and for decades as a business owner to change the state’s workers comp system. As governor, he said he will have three priorities for change.
“I believe there should be a prior-injury database for workers comp,” he said. “The 90-day panel period should move to 180 days, and the Department of Labor and Industry, which now has 18 months to hear a case, should be fast tracked to six months.”
Regarding tort reform, Wagner said he would put a limit of $750,000 on medical malpractice awards. “Pennsylvania would recruit a lot more doctors if we do that,” he said.
Wagner, responding to questions on a wide range of issues, said his top-five issues as governor would be zero-based budgeting, restoring the death penalty, increasing school safety, eliminating school property taxes and addressing the heroin/opioid crisis. He gave his views on property taxes, term limits for state legislators and reforming the state’s pension system.
“The time for change is now,” he concluded. “I have a very long laundry list.”