Reforming Insurance Rates Has Just Begun
Dayton Daily News
January 10, 2003

If recent reports about medical malpractice costs in other states are an accurate indicator, the "reform" legislation Gov. Bob Taft is expected to sign today won't relieve financial pressure on physicians any time soon or over the long run. Skyrocketing insurance rates - increases that hit 100 percent or more for some medical specialists - led the Ohio General Assembly to hastily enact a hodgepodge of measures aimed at preventing patients from suing and limiting the amount of damages they can recover for malpractice.

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Over the holidays, West Virginia surgeons at four hospitals protested enormous increases in their malpractice-insurance costs with a walkout. Scheduled surgeries were canceled, and some patients had to be transferred to medical centers in Ohio and Pennsylvania.

Doctors there want the same legal protections Ohio has.

Just this week, though, Americans for Insurance Reform, a coalition of consumer groups led by former federal insurance administrator J. Robert Hunter, released a report that reviews 30 years of industry data on what West Virginia insurers have collected in premiums and what they've paid out on malpractice claims.

Contrary to industry suggestions that premium costs are increasing because of large jury verdicts and settlements, the West Virginia study says there "has been no real increase in lawsuits, jury awards or torts system costs in recent years."

Missouri reports a similar experience, according to a study released by the state insurance director in October.

For a copy of the complete article, contact AIR.