Profession
Liability claims drop, but insurance premiums up, study finds
NEWS IN BRIEF — Posted July 16, 2007
Medical liability insurers are charging doctors too much for their premiums, according to a recent study of the nation's leading carriers.
The analysis, published in May by the American Assn. for Justice, a trade group for trial lawyers, and authored by former Missouri Insurance Commissioner Jay Angoff, looked at the 2006 annual financial statements for the 15 largest liability insurers.
The report, "No Basis for High Insurance Rates," showed claims payouts dropped 14.7% from 2000 to 2006. In the same period, insurers' premium revenues rose 123.7%.
Between 2003 and 2006, the study found that carriers' estimated current and future payouts decreased by 48%. During that period, the reserves of 12 companies that solely cover medical liability increased 43%.
Only three of those 12 carriers issued dividends to their policy holders in 2006, the study found.
The Physician Insurers Assn. of America, a trade group of physician-owned medical liability carriers, disputed the study as flawed, saying it used incomplete or inconsistent data. For example, the analysis excluded one of the nation's largest exclusive medical liability carriers, Medical Liability Mutual Insurance Co. It also used an "apples-to-oranges comparison" of paid claims to premiums, which are applied as many as 10 years into the future, a June PIAA statement said.
Note: This item originally appeared at http://www.ama-assn.org/amednews/2007/07/16/prbf0716.htm.
