n its April 13 editorial, "Lawyers vs. doctors," the Rocky Mountain News announced opposition to legislation to regulate insurance rate hikes for doctors, saying it "deserves to die." This position is misguided.
In the past five years, malpractice rates for doctors in Colorado Have increased a staggering $62 million, an increase of 63 percent. Under current state law, insurers are not required to give any public notification, let alone explanation, for the raising of rates on doctors, regardless of how high those increases might be.
Consumer advocates have long advocated stricter rate regulation and public oversight of the insurance industry as the only way to end periodic insurance crises for doctors.
This legislation would help to ensure that no Colorado doctor will find himself or herself price-gouged out of business and that no Coloradoans will find himself or herself without the medical care each deserves.
Patrick Buckley, field organizer for the Center for Justice & Democracy, writes from New York.
New York City
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