While medical malpractice premiums were climbing dramatically from 2000 to 2004, claims did not increase at all. The finding from a study by the Center for Justice and Democracy reported in the New York Times, examined the premium and claim histories of the 15 largest med mal carriers and found that while premiums escalated 120%, claims were flat while the insurers’ incurred loss ratios (ratio of claims to premiums collected) improved by almost 25% to 51.4%.
What gives? Does this mean the “med mal crisis” of a few months ago was a myth? Depends on who you listen to. The Times article notes:
“According to Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal (D), the results of the study “have the potential to alter the debate fundamentally from seeming to cast the rapacious personal injury lawyers as the complete culprits and the insurers as innocent bystanders with doctors as victims to the insurers as equally responsible, if not more so.” He does like to turn a phrase…
A
Jul
11
