Letter About Malpractice Insurance

I had a letter to the Editor published in the Buffalo News today.

The only event that motivates me to write is the appearance of a self-serving bundle of lies submitted by a trial lawyer. The most recent example was from a guy who neglected to reveal that he was an attorney, and proceeded to bash malpractice insurance companies for gouging physicians, charging excessively high premiums to cover their investment losses.

My rebuttal made the following points:

1) The largest malpractice insurer in NY Stateis a mutual company, owned by its policy holders and managed by physicians. Thus, this joker wants us to believe that doctors are ripping themselves off for some reason.

2). Insurance companies follow a prescribed set of rules and actuarial procedures to estimate their future losses, and they are required to maintain sufficient reserves to cover those losses. The State Insurance Department rules on any requests they may have to change premium rates.

3). The lawyer pointed out that in recent years the premiums collected have significantly exceeded the claims paid, and offered this as evidence of the insurance companies' greed. I pointed out that this ratio is exactly what one should expect. The physician wins the majority of cases that go to trial, and in those cases, there are no claims paid. Win or lose, a court case costs an enormous sum, and the insurance company pays for defending the doctor.

4). Finally, I appealed to common sense with this argument: If insurers could make a profit by selling malpractice policies to doctors, then they would be in competition for my business. I would expect to see advertising for malpractice policies when I read a medical journal or opened my mail. This hasn't happened once in a 30-year career. On the other hand, No one can watch TV, listen to the radio, pick up the telephone book, or drive down the street without being assaulted by ads from personal injury law firms. So, where do you think the money is going?

I will now climb back off my soapbox and retreat to the shadows.

-KM2L