New Study Shows Florida Malpractice Insurers Earned 40 Percent Profit during Last Five Years

Tallahassee, Florida (PRWEB) October 16, 2012

Florida’s medical malpractice carriers earned an average of 40 percent profit during the last five years, according to a report by Towers Watson. The same study shows patients harmed by physicians were compensated with only 30 percent of premiums paid by doctors, according to the actuarial report.

Nationally, malpractice carriers averaged a profit of 31 percent, according to Towers Watson – nearly 9 percent less than Florida’s malpractice insurers.
Meanwhile, patients received very little of the malpractice premiums doctors pay into the system.

“There is nothing wrong with making a profit, but there is a lot wrong with making a profit while patients are not being compensated for avoidable injuries,” said Dr. James Rowsey, a board member of the Florida Society of Ophthalmology. “The majority of what doctors are paying for insurance is being absorbed in administrative costs, legal fees, court costs and insurance profits, with very little going to the injured patients who desperately deserve the compensation.”

The current medical malpractice system is inefficient, preventing most patients who are truly harmed from getting any compensation. Those lucky enough to access the broken legal system receive only a fraction of physicians’ malpractice premiums as compensation.

“This really goes to show we need to replace our combative medical tort system with one that compensates all harmed patients instead of just a select few,” said Rick Jackson, chairman of Patients for Fair Compensation. Jackson said. “Litigation costs bar too many from access to justice. You could not develop a more inefficient model to pay patients that are medically harmed.”

Patients for Fair Compensation is proposing a replacement of the current medical malpractice system with a no-fault, administrative system that compensates all patients who are found to be truly harmed. It would create a panel of experts to hear cases and determine if compensation should be awarded – and amounts would be more than if a patient had their day in court under the current system.

The Towers Watson report showed Florida’s malpractice carriers earned a 40 percent profit in the past five years in the state compared to workers compensation providers who earned 24 percent in the state during the same period.

The Florida Medical Association is further evaluating the Patients Compensation System as a replacement for Florida’s current medical malpractice system at its Fall Board of Governors meeting annual meeting in Orlando.

To read the Towers-Watson report, go to http://www.patientsforfaircompensation.org/media/24598/122111.towers_watson._jh_mpl_wc_profit_margin__final_.2006-2010.elements_ga_fl_us.pdf

To learn more information about Patients for Fair Compensation and the Patients’ Compensation System policy solution, please visit http://www.patientsforfaircompensation.org.

ABOUT PATIENTS FOR FAIR COMPENSATION
Patients for Fair Compensation is a 501(c) 4 organization dedicated to educating and proposing policy solutions to ensure access to real justice for injured patients by eliminating up to $650 billion per year nationally of unnecessary costs due to defensive medicine.

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