My Medical Malpractice Insurance

March 1, 2010

Sen. Dick Durbin on medical malpractice reform at White House health summit

Filed under: Uncategorized — Tags: , , , , , , , , , — admin @ 1:32 pm

side note: Here is insight on the medical malpractice debate from the second most powerful member of the Senate majority party.

DURBIN: Mr. President, I’ve been biding my time throughout this entire meeting. I thank you for inviting us on the issue of medical malpractice. Before I was elected to Congress, I worked in a courtroom. For years, I defended doctors and hospitals, and for years I sued them on behalf of people who were victims of medical malpractice. So I’ve sat at both tables in a courtroom. At least many years ago, I think I kind of understood this area of the law better than some.

But I listen time and again as our friends on the other side when they’re asked what are the most important things you can do when it comes to our health care system in America. The first thing they say is medical malpractice. It’s the first thing they say. Today, it was the first thing that was said.

The point that’s been made by the president is if we do believe the Congressional Budget Office, when Orrin Hatch asked them how much will we save if we implement the Republican plan on medical malpractice from the House, they said $54 billion over 10 years; $5.4 billion a year is a lot of money, except in the context of the $2.5 trillion bill that we pay each year for health care. It represents one-fifth of 1 percent of the amount of money we spend each year on health care.

The Congressional Budget Office said something else. They said and as you lose accountability for what the doctors and hospitals are doing, more people will die — 4,800 a year, according to the Congressional Budget Office’s reference to this study.
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February 9, 2010

Fears from Illinois Supreme Court Ruling on Medical Malpractice Decision

Filed under: Uncategorized — Tags: , , , , , , , — admin @ 9:36 am

side note: Here in Illinois, there is a real fear that downstate could experience a serious physician shortfall in the wake of last week’s decision.

State Senator John O. Jones and State Representative John Cavaletto fear the State Supreme Court decision last week ruling the Medical Malpractice legislation unconstitutional will hit rural areas like South Central Illinois particularly hard.

Cavaletto met with the Southern Illinois Hospital Association after the decision was announced. He says the members were scared about the consequences. “It’s a situation that’s going to hurt us,” he says. “Insurance costs will rise on hospitals and doctors will rise…we need to take a good look at it because it’s running a lot of doctors out and the prices go up, so it comes back to us.”

Cavaletto notes since the now overturned law passed, five-thousand more doctors were licensed in Illinois, three new insurance companies were offering coverage and ten existing insurers dropped their rates by five to more than 30 percent. Jones fears that the rural health care system will be on the brink of extinction like it was in 2004 and make it very hard to recruit physicians. Both Jones and Cavaletto applauded Southern Illinois Supreme Court Justice Lloyd Karmeier for the dissenting opinion in the case. They will ask legislative staff and supporters of medical malpractice to examine the dissent for options and ideas that might be available to once again try and reform the system.

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February 4, 2010

Illinois Supreme Court strikes down medical malpractice caps, tort reform

Filed under: Uncategorized — Tags: , , , , , , , , , — admin @ 9:17 am

side note: In a decision long awaited in the state of Illinois, the state’s Supreme Court ruled that caps on non-economic damages in medical malpractice cases is unconstitutional. After several years of flat medical liability premiums, rates are expected to go up for doctors practicing in Illinois.

The Illinois Supreme Court struck down the state’s medical malpractice law today, saying it violates separation of powers by allowing lawmakers to interfere with a judge’s ability to reduce verdicts.

The much-anticipated ruling, which challenged the constitutionality of damage caps for doctors and hospitals, is being watched closely by the health care industry and employers that see caps on damages as a way to tame rising health care costs.

The ruling could figure in the national health care debate of stalled health care legislation. In the U.S. Senate where Republicans have opposed health care reform, the GOP has been vocal about the need for tort reform and caps on damages.

State lawmakers in 2005 passed legislation, which was signed into law by then-Gov. Rod Blagojevich, that established caps on noneconomic damages of $500,000 in cases against doctors and $1 million against hospitals. Illinois followed other states, such as California, that capped damages years ago.

But Justices said they were not persuaded by arguments used in other states. “That ‘everybody is doing it,” is hardly a litmus test for the constitutionality of the statute,” the court said.
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July 30, 2009

Liability insurance rates stabilize in Illinois

Filed under: Illinois, Illinois Medical Malpractice Insurance, Insurance, Medical Malpractice Insurance, Physicians — Tags: , , — admin @ 7:58 am

side note: ISMIE, Illinois’ largest medical malpractice insurance carrier, announced it will not be changing its liability insurance rates for the third year in a row. This is welcome news for a state that consistently ranks as having some of the country’s highest premiums.

By Amy Lynn Sorrel
American Medical News
amednews.com
But physicians warn that security could disappear if the state’s noneconomic damage cap is overturned in a case pending before the state Supreme Court.

Thousands of Illinois physicians will see their medical liability insurance premiums hold steady again in the 2009-10 policy year after the state’s largest carrier announced it would not change base liability insurance rates for the third year in a row.

In addition, ISMIE Mutual Insurance Co. will continue to issue credits, totaling about $21 million, to eligible policyholders.

The physician-owned insurer credited the stabilizing liability climate to an overall drop in claims filings after the state Legislature enacted tort reforms in 2005. But ISMIE executives warned that high jury verdicts still plague the court system, and recent rate improvements could disappear if the state’s $500,000 cap on noneconomic damages is overturned by a constitutional challenge pending in the Illinois Supreme Court.

“We must remain cautiously alert,” ISMIE Chair Harold L. Jensen, MD, said in a statement. “Until the Illinois Supreme Court upholds the constitutionality of the reforms, severity will continue to be an issue for Illinois doctors and their patients’ access to care.” (more…)

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