THERE IS NO MEDICAL MALPRACTICE CRISIS

Every ten years or so, when insurance companies suffer losses from low interest rates, investment income from bonds, and stock market losses, they manufacture another "Tort Reform Crisis". There is no crisis. Insurance companies are merely gouging insureds, including doctors, by charging higher premiums to make up for lost profits and their own underpricing for medical malpractice coverage in the early 1990's. For political cover, the insurance industry misdirects the public's attention away from their accounting practices, by blaming trial lawyers and patient victims for high jury verdicts.

Here's the truth, plain and simple. "Caps" on pain and suffering awards do not bring insurance premiums down much, and they don't stop the malpractice. "Caps" only punish the patient victims (who are deprived of their constitutional right to trial by jury), and encourage litigation rather than settlement (since the risks of trial are removed). Until the medical profession cracks down on the 5% of bad doctors who commit most of the malpractice, the catastrophic errors will continue. In Texas, where President Bush caught his "Med Mal Fever", since 1997, no doctors have had their licenses revoked, despite 6,038 medical malpractice claims, including 150 times surgeons operated on the wrong part of the body.

You're not going to believe this, but the actual average payout to victims by insurers during the 1970's, 1980's, 1990's and today is... get ready...ONLY $28,524 PER CLAIM. That's all!

Currently, in the 30 states without caps, physician premiums average $33,631. In the 8 states with caps of $500,000 or above, the average premium is $28,656; and in the 13 states with caps below $500,00, the average premium is $25,951. Some crisis! Would you believe that the inflation-adjusted malpractice insurance premiums for doctors were lower in 2001 than in the previous decades? ($9,719 in 2001 in contrast to $13,705 in 1975.)

In the 1990's, medical malpractice insurance premiums rose far less than medical inflation. No matter how low they kept rates in order to gain market share, insurers made tremendous profits from investing premium dollars, mostly in bonds. Now that interest rates and investment income have plummeted, many insurers are trying to recoup by raising rates 100% or more.

Consumer advocates have long known that the only way to stop periodic insurance crises is to get better control over the business and accounting practices of the insurance industry. That involves stricter rate regulation, public oversight and repeal of the industry's extraordinary exemption from antitrust laws.

The emphasis for better health care should be on behalf of the patient. Last year, a Harvard Medical School study cited 80,000 lives lost by medical errors in hospitals.

Fight The Big Lie. Call your Congressman to vote against Caps.

Jordan Margolis