You can be the next prey - Be cautious with medical insurance malpractice

Medical Malpractice Insurance covers doctors and other medical service providers against liability claims arising on account of their treatment of patients. After almost a decade of basically flat prices, the medical malpractice insurance has been steadily increasing. This article throws light on:

• What do you know about medical malpractice insurance?
• What comes under the coverage of medical malpractice insurance?
• Know more on the recent developments in the field of medical malpractice insurance

Medical Malpractice Insurance covers doctors and other medical service providers against liability claims arising on account of their treatment of patients. After almost a decade of basically flat prices, the medical malpractice insurance has been steadily increasing. Claims of medical malpractice have been growing, especially in the urban areas. One of the main reasons for the spiraling rates is on account of a reduction in supply of available insurance coverage. This reduced supply has been due to the medical malpractice insurance companies making a rapid exit from the business, since

• It is difficult to make profits, and
• Medical healthcare costs are also rising.

New surveys indicate that increases in premium rates may be moderate, but significant and far-reaching reforms in the liability system - in other words, medical malpractice insurance reform- and in the delivery of healthcare are essential if any turnaround is to take place.

For Any Improvement To Start Taking Place

The following must first take root,

• Judicial reforms that clearly link compensation along with avoidable errors
• Government support for a nationwide response to medical error costs
• Development of initiatives by health insurance firms to reduce the number of avoidable errors
• State and local support for further uniformity in model regulations and rules.

In the early part of January 2005 the Bush Administration Commissioned Experts to Study Medical Malpractice Liability Insurance. Their observations include that:

• The public ought to be protected against substandard treatment of incompetent physicians.
• Increased state policing of medical treatments would decrease the number of medical malpractice lawsuits and insurance claims.
• Not only is the process for removing the practicing license of an incompetent doctor cumbersome and costly, but state medical boards also lack the resource for handling the numerous complaints they get every year.

At the end of July 2005, based on their recommendations, Congress passed legislation that would provide for a network that would report as well as analyze medical errors.

Reasons for the Increased Incidence of Medical Malpractice Claims

• The purely basic reason that people are more litigious than they were in the past.
• Loss of intimacy between the patient and his family doctor, and the use of the testimony of medical experts in medical malpractice lawsuits.
• Excessive publicity given to medical malpractice insurance claims has caused a growing public distrust of doctors and the medical profession in general.
• Physicians also accuse lawyers of being too eager to press liability claims and lawsuits as they would stand to gain a fat fee, should their client win.
• While juries have now by and large become desensitized to large claims, and medical malpractice insurance damage awards are being reduced, this has not been publicized enough- with the result that larger and still larger medical malpractice claims and demands are being made.
• There seems to be a greater willingness on the part of one physician to testify against the medical treatment given by another physician.
• Also the large scale changes to the judicial environment have helped increase costs. It is easy now for example, to find information on the Internet, and build a case.

Tort Reforms Initiative

Congress is being urged by the President of the U.S. to pass a medical malpractice reform bill that would curtail non-economic damages to $250,000, limit the extent of punitive damage awards, help set up a sort of fee schedule for lawyers' contingency fees, and limit the time allowed for injured patients to file lawsuits. A provision in the Bill also provides for liability protection for pharmaceutical companies. In recent times the House has approved seven times, a Bill that limits lawsuits on medical malpractice liability claims - each time; it has been defeated by the Senate.

Continue to: Proposals to Make Medical Malpractice Liability Insurance More Affordable

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