The program fund balance may be used to pay assistance to qualified eligible physicians in prior years for which there were insufficient funds.__If all prior years' eligible qualified physicians have received assistance, any excess funds must be carried forward to subsequent plan years as part of the program fund balance.__Excess funds must be applied first to the assessment year commencing July 1, 1998 and then to each successive assessment year.

For the purposes of this section, "program fund balance" means the total funds collected in excess of assistance paid for all years.

Sec. 8. 24-A MRSA §6306, as enacted by PL 1989, c. 931, §5, is amended to read:

§6306. Funds held by insurers

Insurers may shall invest assessments collected subject to chapter 13. Interest earned on investments must be credited to the Rural Medical Access Program.

Sec. 9. 24-A MRSA §6308, sub-§2, as amended by PL 1991, c. 734, §5 and PL 2003, c. 689, Pt. B, §7, is further amended to read:

2. Determination of participants in the program. The superintendent shall apply the standards of prioritization adopted by the Commissioner of Health and Human Services to determine the physicians who are eligible for the program. The funding available for each qualified physician is the amount equal to the difference between the physician's medical malpractice insurance premiums with obstetrical care coverage and the physician's premiums without obstetrical care coverage; however, the funding must be at least $5,000 but may not be more than $10,000 $15,000 as determined by the superintendent.