Some See Industry Regulation as a Cure
Charleston Daily News
January 3, 2003

Tort reform is the primary focus, but some people say changes in the regulation of insurance companies is needed more than changes in the civil liability system to help West Virginia get control of rising medical malpractice rates.

Those critics point out that it's difficult to show a clear correlation between tort reform and lower insurance rates, but they can match malpractice insurance crises to times of poor investment returns for insurance companies.

"The reason for the increases in premiums hasn't been because of runaway juries, because they can't show that. The reason that they've had increases in insurance rates is bad investments," said James Casey of the West Virginia Trial Lawyers Association. "The insurance industry, when it makes bad investments, says, 'We'll raise rates.'"

Critics blame the rising medical malpractice insurance rates for many physicians' decisions to leave West Virginia, reduce the scope of their practices or retire.

. . .

A study by Americans for Insurance Reform, a coalition of consumers and public interest groups, concluded that malpractice insurance rates over the last 30 years directly followed the ups and downs of the economy rather than the cost of payouts by insurance companies. So the coalition maintains that rather than limiting the rights of patients to sue doctors, the government should instead investigate the actions of insurance companies, and Cline grants some merit to that argument.

For a copy of the complete article, contact AIR.