Doctors Overcharged by Their Med Mal Insurance Companies
Former Missouri Insurance Commissor Jay Angoff analyzed financial statements of 15 of the largest medical malpractice insurance companies in the U.S. His report found there was no basis for high insurance rates. The 15 largest insurers paid out an average of 31.4 cents in claims for every dollar they collected in 2006. Meaning that for every $1 that a hospital or health care provider paid in insurance premiums, insurance companies were able to keep 68.6 cents. The surplus was then used to fund executive salaries, marketing and advertising and lawyers and lobbyists. What was left they continued to hold in reserve. Further, the report notes that over the last three years, the economic losses of the 15 largest insurers fell by 50%. Yet publicly they claim their losses were increasing. This new information comes at a time when physicians and health care providers are complaining about the high cost of malpractice insurance and health care costs in the U.S. continue to rise exponentially. Insurance companies and tort reformers want to use high malpractice premiums as an excuse to enact restrictive reform measures that do not allow the doctors to be held responsible for any harm they cause. This report further illustrates that the reason for high premiums is the greed of the insurance industry. Doctors should fight back at their insurancing companies and demand rate cuts.
