Reforms Bring Positive Change to Liability Marketplace

Step into our time machine and return to the summer of 2005…The medical liability marketplace is in chaos. Claims against physicians are on the rise. Insurance rates are skyrocketing. Once again, liability insurers have abandoned the state. Obstetricians, neurosurgeons and other specialists are eliminating highrisk procedures, relocating or retiring from active practice. Patient access to medical care is in jeopardy.

All that began to change for the better in August of that year. With ISMIE and ISMS leading the charge, and with the support of Illinois physicians and their patients, comprehensive medical litigation reform was signed into law. The new reforms brought a $500,000 cap on non-economic damage awards against physicians, a $1 million cap on non-economic damage awards against hospitals, stronger expert witness standards and improvements to the affidavit of merit.

Now, jump ahead two years to present-day 2007. On the second anniversary of reform, positive changes are having an impact on the medical liability marketplace. Insurance companies new to the Illinois market are writing policies for physicians in select specialties or in certain locales around the state.

ISMIE welcomes the competition. An expanding market allows physicians to find the best liability coverage for their needs. It also proves that the free enterprise system is healthy and working for the benefit of all physicians.

Over the last few years basic liability rates have stabilized or even decreased. Add to this that ISMIE is distributing a dividend to eligible insureds and has opened its doors to accommodate up to 400 new business exposures. The new reform law is improving the affordability and availability of liability insurance in Illinois. ISMIE invites all medical liability carriers in the state to join our efforts to keep our hard-won reforms – the result of 30 years of physician advocacy on behalf of our insureds.

“These gains are good for doctors, but the battle is far from won,” said ISMIE Mutual Chairman Harold L. Jensen, MD. “If the constitutional challenge mounted by trial lawyers unravels the reform law, it will wipe out all the progress we’ve made. Only through constant vigilance can we finally succeed in bringing true reform to the legal justice system and enhance competition in the medical liability marketplace.”