Practicing 'Bare'

As a result of these extreme malpractice insurance rates, Florida also boasts the nation's largest number of doctors that practice bare (without any liability coverage). According to the Wall Street Journal, as many as 20 percent of Florida's doctors are practicing without medical liability coverage, while that number might be as low as 1- to 2-percent when factored nationwide.

The Unwanted Risks of Going Bare

While the cost-saving attraction of practicing without medical malpractice insurance in Florida is obvious on paper, it is anything but attractive when faced with a lawsuit. A bare physician is alone when it comes time to defend him or herself in a court of law.

In addition to any potential jury verdict, a bare doctor is solely responsible for all expenses associated with defending a claim and the costs incurred during a trial. The cost to a bare physician defending a case from the filing of a lawsuit through a two-week trial would conservatively be a minimum of $100,000 and could easily escalate beyond $200,000.

Financial expenses aside, the emotional toll of fighting a claim alone can be exhausting. A bare physician must expend hundreds of hours discussing the case with their defense lawyer and doing things normally done by the claims staff of a traditional medical malpractice carrier. This is time that is taken away from practicing medicine and time that an uninsured doctor would not have to give up if he or she had coverage that would enable him to rely on an insurer to direct his defense.