Rendell Sees Improvement in Med Mal Climate

By Amaris Elliott-Engel
Of the Legal Staff

With 21 more insurers writing medical malpractice insurance coverage, Medical Care Availability and Reduction of Error fund payouts dropping dramatically over the last seven years and other promising indicators, the medical malpractice problems in Pennsylvania have been stemmed, Gov. Edward G. Rendell said today in a conference call.

The number of MCARE claim payments fell by more than $200 million from $348 million, or 674 payments, in 2002 to $146 million, or 329 payments, in 2010, according to a briefing provided by the governor's press office.

The rates charged by the two largest medical malpractice insurance companies, PMSLIC and Medical Protective, have kept their rates flat for the second year in a row — when PMSLIC raised its rates 40 percent in 2002 and 54 percent in 2003, while Medical Protective raised its rates 45 percent in 2002 and 16 percent in 2003, the briefing said.

In today's conference call with reporters, Rendell claimed that Pennsylvania is the "only big state in the union that has had that kind of big drop" in medical malpractice insurance premiums.

Rendell said that rules implemented by Pennsylvania courts and laws passed by the General Assembly demonstrate "what happens when everybody works toward a common goal."

The courts began to require that a certificate of merit be obtained from an expert in every medical malpractice lawsuit and that the lawsuits be filed in the county where the alleged malpractice occurred.

On the legislative side, MCARE was created so that the $1 million of medical malpractice insurance coverage required of doctors and other health care providers per alleged medical malpractice incident could be divided between $500,000 of coverage obtained on the private market and $500,000 provided by MCARE. Under the annual aggregate insurance coverage of $3 million required of physicians and other health care providers, the first $1.5 million in coverage is obtained on the private market and the next $1.5 million is provided through MCARE.

High-risk specialists such as obstetricians, midwives and neurosurgeons had their MCARE assessments abated by 100 percent and other health care providers had their MCARE assessments abated by 50 percent, the briefing said.

MCARE should stay in existence for a while longer, Rendell said, so that the surplus in MCARE funds could be used to "pay off the tail," or the unfunded liability of medical malpractice incidents in the past that may need to be paid for out of the MCARE fund. MCARE's unfunded liability is estimated to be $1.34 billion.