Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report Rounds Up Coverage of Malpractice Developments in Four States

The following summarizes developments related to medical malpractice insurance in four states.

• Colorado: Copic Insurance, which provides malpractice insurance to about 80% of physicians in the state who have private coverage, has announced plans to increase premium rates by 13.8% in 2004 despite a new state law that caps noneconomic damages in malpractice lawsuits, the Denver Business Journal reports (Fletcher, Denver Business Journal, 10/31). The law, enacted in May, caps noneconomic damages in malpractice lawsuits at $300,000 (Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, 5/23). Copic, business leaders and physicians supported the law, which they said would reduce malpractice insurance costs. Officials from the Colorado Trial Lawyers Association, who opposed the law, said that the increase in premium rates announced by Copic indicates that the company "misled legislators about the need" for the law, the Journal reports. However, Copic officials said that the company would have raised premium rates by at least 10% more without the law and that full effect of the law will not become evident for several years (Denver Business Journal, 10/31).
  
  
• New Jersey: New Jersey physicians who donated more than $1 million to state candidates this year and campaigned door-to-door for Republicans remain divided over whether to work with the new Democratic-controlled state Senate and Assembly on legislation to cap noneconomic damages in malpractice lawsuits or "redouble their effort to oust" Democratic lawmakers in 2005, the Asbury Park Press reports (Stainton, Asbury Park Press, 11/6). According to state records, the Medical Society of New Jersey, as part of an effort to convince the state Legislature to pass a bill that would cap noneconomic damages in malpractice lawsuits at $300,000, this year donated $478,524 to state candidates and political parties as of Sept. 30. The group donated a total of $188,600 to 30 Republicans and a total of $41,400 to 11 Democrats from July to September. The group also made the maximum allowable donation -- $7,200 -- to the two physicians in the state Legislature, Assembly members Herbert Conaway (D) and Eric Munoz (R). The New Jersey Chapter of the Association of Trial Lawyers of America, which opposes legislation to cap noneconomic damages in malpractice lawsuits, donated $81,200 to state candidates through Sept. 30. The group donated a total of $25,950 to Democrats from July through September (Donohue, Newark Star-Ledger, 10/23).
  
  
• Pennsylvania: The state Office of Health Care Reform last month announced a proposal to raise about $230 million through a 10-cent increase in the state cigarette tax and obtain $100 million in matching funds to reduce premiums for physicians who purchase malpractice insurance through MCARE, the Philadelphia Daily News reports (Hinkelman, Philadelphia Daily News, 11/6). In June, Gov. Ed Rendell (D) promised to provide $600 million through 2005 to help physicians cover the cost of malpractice insurance purchased through MCARE, the state-operated excess liability fund (Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, 6/27). Rendell said that he hopes to eliminate MCARE premiums for some specialists and reduce by half premiums for other physicians (Philadelphia Daily News, 11/6). A nationwide survey published last month by the independent newsletter Medical Liability Monitor found that Pennsylvania has some of the highest malpractice insurance premium rates in the nation. The survey found that Pennsylvania had the highest annual premiums and the largest annual premium rate increases between 2002 and 2003 among states with funds similar to MCARE. In addition, the survey found that internists, general surgeons and OB/GYNs in Pennsylvania paid the third-highest or fifth-highest malpractice insurance premium rates nationwide (Hinkelman, Philadelphia Daily News, 10/30). At the same time, according to MCARE, payments to plaintiffs in malpractice lawsuits in the state have increased by about 8% -- 20% in Philadelphia -- since the summer of 2002 (Hinkelman, Philadelphia Daily News, 10/20).
  
  
• Wyoming: Gov. Dave Freudenthal (D) last month proposed a constitutional amendment that would allow state lawmakers to pass legislation that would cap noneconomic damages in malpractice lawsuits, the AP/Billings Gazette reports. Under the state constitution, state lawmakers currently cannot pass such legislation. Wyoming physicians say that state lawmakers should pass such legislation to address high malpractice insurance premium rates, which they maintain have forced some physicians to leave the state. Freudenthal said that the proposed amendment is an effort to "amend those provisions of the Wyoming constitution that prevent us from engaging in meaningful debate" on the issue, not an endorsement for a cap on noneconomic damages in malpractice lawsuits. The Legislature must consider the amendment, which, if approved, would appear on the November 2004 statewide ballot (AP/Billings Gazette, 10/24).