Physicians feel double-digit pain as liability rates continue to rise

Some doctors are seeing bigger bills than reflected in the raw numbers as companies continue to eliminate discounts and tighten underwriting.

By Tanya Albert, AMNews staff. Nov. 10, 2003.

Internists, general surgeons and obstetrician-gynecologists in the Miami area are paying the highest professional liability insurance rates for those specialties in the nation, according to a new report.

The next highest rates for those specialties are found in Michigan, Illinois, Texas and Pennsylvania.

Nationwide, rates are on the rise. More than half of the internists, general surgeons and ob-gyns out there -- 58.2% to be exact -- saw double-digit insurance rate increases of 10% to 49% between 2002 and 2003.

Slightly more than 1% of those specialists saw increases of 100% or more.

But there is some good news: 22.6% of physicians in those three specialties saw no increase, and some saw a decrease in rates over the past year.

The lowest rates in the nation for internists, general surgeons and ob-gyns are in Idaho, Minnesota, Nebraska, South Dakota and Richmond, Va.

This is according to the latest state of the union for medical liability insurance rates from "2003 Rate Survey" by the Medical Liability Monitor. The data, which the monthly newsletter has collected annually since 1991, are based on 641 rates insurance companies reported that can be compared with 2002 data. Companies report their mature claims-made manual rates in effect July 1 with $1 million/$3 million limits.

The information collected from 40 insurance companies provides the most comprehensive look at the amount physicians are paying for their insurance. The report also offers a glimpse at what doctors can expect in the coming year. And 2004 doesn't look to be much better than its most recent predecessors. About 83% of the companies surveyed believe they will need additional large increases next year, according to the report. Many of those companies believe those increases will be in the double digits although they hope they won't be as high as they have been in recent years.