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Politics : PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: gerard mangiardi who wrote (674715)	3/10/2005 3:25:24 PM
From: tonto	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 769670

You then have no clue if you do not believe that awwards have not affected pricing...it is as simple as that.

To: gerard mangiardi who wrote (674715)	3/10/2005 3:30:56 PM
From: tonto	Respond to of 769670

Rising Verdicts and Increasing Cost of Discovery Forces Rate Increases Doctors, nurses and hospitals have been faced with skyrocketing malpractice insurance premiums in response to increasing claims. The rising litigation costs are reflected in malpractice insurance underwriting losses, which doubled from $4.1 billion in 1991 to $8.6 billion in 2001. This total includes amounts paid to plaintiffs and their attorneys, expenditures for processing and investigating claims, including the majority that are subsequently dropped or dismissed and expenditures to defend litigated claims. The study found that as the number of claims increased, so too have jury awards. Between 1995 and 2001, median jury awards in medical malpractice cases doubled from $500,000 to $1,000,000 for the typical case with the maximum annual claim award reported nationwide increasing from $5.3 to $20.7 million over the same period. Malpractice insurers paid out $1.53 in claims settlements and claims adjustment and defense expenses for every dollar that they collected in premiums. In 2001, the gap between premiums collected and underwriting losses amounted to $4,033 per physician, assuming that all 744,000 full-time physicians in the U.S. were covered. Most Litigation Costs Do Not Benefit Injured Patients EPF’s analysis found that the malpractice litigation system is a highly inefficient method for identifying and correcting medical errors. Plaintiffs eventually receive only 38 percent of the total dollars that flow through the malpractice litigation system. The majority—62 percent—compensates the plaintiff’s lawyers and expert witnesses and the insurer’s claims adjustment, cost of investigating claims and defending claims made against insured physicians and hospitals.