Profession
Texas Medical Liability Trust to cut rates again
NEWS IN BRIEF — Posted Oct. 10, 2005
The physician-owned insurance company Texas Medical Liability Trust said it would lower rates for the third straight year since the state's voters passed a tort reform referendum.
The company plans to cut liability premiums by 5% for all physicians. The new rates take effect Jan. 1, 2006. The company cut rates by 12% in 2004 and by 5% this year after a constitutional amendment passed in 2003 capped awards for noneconomic damages in medical liability cases at $250,000.
Physicians who hold policies with Texas Medical Liability Trust also can expect to receive a dividend this year, company executives announced. The trust declared a $10 million dividend, which it credited to projected earnings in 2005.
Physicians will see the dividend as a lump-sum credit on their policies when they renew in 2006, company officials said.
Note: This item originally appeared at http://www.ama-assn.org/amednews/2005/10/10/prbf1010.htm.
