Medical Mutual

Maryland's biggest medical malpractice insurer yesterday proposed a 2 percent cut in premiums, continuing a gradual drawdown in rates that doctors said was needed for them to avoid financial disaster. The proposed change comes as payouts for medical claims are holding steady after spiking unexpectedly more than four years ago, igniting a furor that led to a special legislative session in late 2004. The reduction proposed by the Medical Mutual Liability Insurance Society of Maryland comes on top of an 8 percent rate cut the insurer agreed to in December.

Maryland's biggest medical malpractice insurer yesterday proposed a 2 percent cut in premiums, continuing a gradual drawdown in rates that doctors said was needed for them to avoid financial disaster. The proposed change comes as payouts for medical claims are holding steady after spiking unexpectedly more than four years ago, igniting a furor that led to a special legislative session in late 2004. The reduction proposed by the Medical Mutual Liability Insurance Society of Maryland comes on top of an 8 percent rate cut the insurer agreed to in December.

A state fund to freeze malpractice premiums could disrupt the malpractice insurance market in Maryland, a representative of a large national insurer said yesterday. Along with other malpractice reforms, the state is considering creating the fund to help doctors insured by the Medical Mutual Liability Insurance Society of Maryland. The doctor-owned insurer covers about 6,400 doctors, or about three-quarters of the physicians in private practice in the state. A 33 percent increase in Med Mutual premiums is scheduled to take effect Jan. 1. After a 28 percent increase this year, that would push rates above $150,000 a year for obstetricians, the highest-risk group.

Actuaries are the people who set rates for insurance companies based on their projections as to how much the company will pay out in the future. But when their predictions are wrong, they tend not to suffer any consequences - and they may even describe it as good news. Well, it may be good news for the company when what its actuaries project it will pay out (which is what the company's rates are based on) turns out to be far greater than what it actually pays out. But it's lousy news for insurance consumers and taxpayers, as Marylanders have learned.

A Baltimore insurance broker won an $8.7 million judgment yesterday against the state's largest medical malpractice insurance company on the grounds that it had driven him out of business in retaliation for selling a competitor's product.After six hours of deliberation, a Baltimore Circuit Court jury agreed with B. Dixon Evander's contentions that his business was destroyed by Medical Mutual Liability Insurance Society of Maryland in May 1989 when it refused to accept any more business from Mr. Evander's firm.

The insurance company that writes medical malpractice policies for 80 percent of the state's individually insured physicians is seeking permission to raise its premiums.Medical Mutual Liability Insurance Society of Maryland has filed a request with the state Insurance Division to increase premiums for its malpractice coverage 8 percent for all classes of physicians combined, Raymond Yow, the company's chairman, said yesterday.Samuel Penn, spokesman for the Insurance Division, said the request by the Hunt Valley-based company, which underwrites about 5,500 medical malpractice policies and paid out roughly $35 million inclaims in 1990, would be subjected to "a pretty extensive review on our part."

Maryland Insurance Commissioner Ralph S. Tyler would like to see the amount that doctors pay out of pocket for medical malpractice insurance kept as low as possible. So would Medical Mutual, the physician-owned company that is by far the state's largest malpractice insurer. But somehow the two are deeply at odds over how to accomplish this. At stake is $68.6 million that Medical Mutual wants to declare as a dividend. The company's proposal calls for $24 million to be distributed to current policyholders as a credit against their 2008 renewal, with the balance returned to the state to offset a taxpayer-financed premium subsidy.

In an unusual trial, a medical malpractice insurance company has been found liable for almost $2 million in damages for negligence and bad faith representation of an anesthesiologist in refusing to settle a brain-damage case out of court.The beneficiary of the jury verdict returned Tuesday in Baltimore Circuit Court is Deborah L. Evans, 43, a former city schoolteacher who suffered brain damage while under anesthesia during a routine gynecological operation at the old Lutheran Hospital in 1983.

Most Maryland doctors could see their medical malpractice insurance costs soar thousands of dollars if state regulators approve a major rate increase request filed yesterday. The state's largest malpractice insurer, Medical Mutual Liability Insurance Society of Maryland, filed a request for a 28 percent increase, saying the move is necessary because of rising malpractice claims payments. The increase would mean a Baltimore obstetrician who pays $85,000 a year for malpractice insurance would have to pay an extra $23,800 a year.

Aside from gasoline, not many commodities have endured a roller-coaster ride in prices like medical malpractice insurance rates. After climbing a breathtaking 28 percent and 33 percent in back-to-back years in 2004 and 2005, the rates for the state's largest carrier are headed back down (albeit at a somewhat more leisurely pace). Medical Mutual Liability Insurance Society of Maryland is seeking an 8 percent cut in physician premiums for the coming year. The question is, why? The simple answer is that Medical Mutual has been paying out less in damages and legal fees, and that's primarily because of fewer malpractice claims.

Maryland Insurance Commissioner Ralph S. Tyler would like to see the amount that doctors pay out of pocket for medical malpractice insurance kept as low as possible. So would Medical Mutual, the physician-owned company that is by far the state's largest malpractice insurer. But somehow the two are deeply at odds over how to accomplish this. At stake is $68.6 million that Medical Mutual wants to declare as a dividend. The company's proposal calls for $24 million to be distributed to current policyholders as a credit against their 2008 renewal, with the balance returned to the state to offset a taxpayer-financed premium subsidy.

Aside from gasoline, not many commodities have endured a roller-coaster ride in prices like medical malpractice insurance rates. After climbing a breathtaking 28 percent and 33 percent in back-to-back years in 2004 and 2005, the rates for the state's largest carrier are headed back down (albeit at a somewhat more leisurely pace). Medical Mutual Liability Insurance Society of Maryland is seeking an 8 percent cut in physician premiums for the coming year. The question is, why? The simple answer is that Medical Mutual has been paying out less in damages and legal fees, and that's primarily because of fewer malpractice claims.

After two years of hefty premium increases that touched off threats of a doctor exodus in Maryland and led to a legislative special session, the state's largest malpractice insurer said it does not need a rate increase for next year, leading some to question whether the much-debated malpractice crisis ever existed. Medical Mutual Liability Insurance Society of Maryland, which insures more than three-quarters of the state's physicians, said in a letter to doctors that claims payouts and defense costs dropped about 15 percent last year from 2003's record level, and are on pace to drop slightly again this year.

REMEMBER ALL that uproar over the rising cost of medical malpractice insurance? The special session of the Maryland General Assembly four months ago? The emergency bill? The tax on HMO premiums to underwrite malpractice insurance costs? The veto and the veto override? Seems like ancient history now. But here's the peculiar thing: The doctors who were desperate for financial relief from those hefty malpractice insurance bills have gotten no help whatsoever from their insurers or the state.

A state fund to freeze malpractice premiums could disrupt the malpractice insurance market in Maryland, a representative of a large national insurer said yesterday. Along with other malpractice reforms, the state is considering creating the fund to help doctors insured by the Medical Mutual Liability Insurance Society of Maryland. The doctor-owned insurer covers about 6,400 doctors, or about three-quarters of the physicians in private practice in the state. A 33 percent increase in Med Mutual premiums is scheduled to take effect Jan. 1. After a 28 percent increase this year, that would push rates above $150,000 a year for obstetricians, the highest-risk group.

The head of the state's largest malpractice insurer told a state Senate commission yesterday that rising malpractice costs are not driven by frivolous lawsuits. David L. Murray, president and chief executive officer of Medical Mutual Liability Insurance Society of Maryland, said his company is seeing fewer baseless claims than it saw in the past, and never settles a claim it considers without merit. Occasionally, Murray said, it loses a trial on a case where it considers the medical evidence thin.

The head of the state's largest malpractice insurer told a state Senate commission yesterday that rising malpractice costs are not driven by frivolous lawsuits. David L. Murray, president and chief executive officer of Medical Mutual Liability Insurance Society of Maryland, said his company is seeing fewer baseless claims than it saw in the past, and never settles a claim it considers without merit. Occasionally, Murray said, it loses a trial on a case where it considers the medical evidence thin.

The state's insurance commissioner approved yesterday a 33 percent rate increase for the malpractice insurer that covers most of the state's doctors, less than the 41 percent the insurer sought but enough to increase the temperature in a heated debate over malpractice reforms. The ruling by Commissioner Alfred W. Redmer Jr. on the rate boost for Medical Mutual Liability Insurance Society of Maryland - which provides coverage for an estimated three-quarters of the state's doctors in private practice - follows a 28 percent increase this year, adding to a swirl of task forces, failed legislation and cries by doctors that rising rates will force them out of practice or out of the state.

The state's insurance commissioner approved yesterday a 33 percent rate increase for the malpractice insurer that covers most of the state's doctors, less than the 41 percent the insurer sought but enough to increase the temperature in a heated debate over malpractice reforms. The ruling by Commissioner Alfred W. Redmer Jr. on the rate boost for Medical Mutual Liability Insurance Society of Maryland - which provides coverage for an estimated three-quarters of the state's doctors in private practice - follows a 28 percent increase this year, adding to a swirl of task forces, failed legislation and cries by doctors that rising rates will force them out of practice or out of the state.

The malpractice insurer that covers most of the state's doctors filed yesterday for a 41 percent increase in premiums, turning up the heat on an issue that already has doctors threatening to leave the profession and the governor and legislators arguing over potential reforms. David L. Murray, president and chief executive officer of Medical Mutual Liability Insurance Society of Maryland, said the higher premiums were needed to cover escalating claims. The average claim paid by Med Mutual in the first quarter of this year was $412,000 - up from $386,000 last year and $234,000 in 2000.