Scranton Times Tribune

Press insurers for the truth

12/17/2003

Editor: The medical lobby keeps pushing for a $250,000 cap on pain and suffering awards in medical malpractice cases, but we don't even know if pain and suffering awards are responsible for driving up doctors' insurance premiums.

The Pennsylvania Insurance Department recently admitted that it doesn't track how much of malpractice payoffs are for pain and suffering. That's because the vast majority of malpractice cases are settled out of court, and victims are paid in a lump sum. If lawmakers can't prove that pain and suffering awards are driving up claims, how can they reasonably propose to limit them with an arbitrary, one-size-fits-all cap?

Data from the Insurance Department does show that Pennsylvania's private malpractice insurers in 2002 paid out $345 million in claims, but took in nearly $500 million in premiums. While claims rose 19 percent between 2001 and 2002, premiums rose 35 percent, nearly twice as much. Why?

A close examination of the data shows a 43 percent decline in investment income between 2000 and 2002, and an unexplained 33 percent increase in operating expenses between 2001 and 2002. But the fact is, we'll never know why premiums are going up because the Insurance Department doesn't require insurers to explain its numbers or justify rate increases.

It's time for Pennsylvania legislators to put executives of the state's malpractice insurers under oath and start asking some hard questions. When the Florida Senate convened hearings on that state's malpractice insurance crisis this summer, they discovered a number of eye-opening facts: the number of doctors in Florida was up; there was no problem with "frivolous" lawsuits; and insurers continued to earn healthy profits, despite a slumping economy. Soon after the hearings, Florida struck a deal and adopted a $5 million cap, and guess what? Malpractice insurers say the cap won't lower doctors' premiums.

Blaming victims and trial lawyers for rising insurance premiums is obviously a simplistic explanation to a complex insurance problem. Until legislators in Harrisburg are willing to put insurance executives under oath, we may never understand the real causes behind today's malpractice insurer crisis, and people's rights will be needlessly sacrificed.

Danielle Ross
Jermyn