Letter to the Editor: Medical malpractice caps aren't the answer

Your editorial, "Waiting for the courts," credits medical malpractice caps enacted in 2005 for declining malpractice premiums and the increase in malpractice insurance companies in Illinois. However, the real reason malpractice premiums were rolled back and competition increased was not verdict limits, but the insurance reforms that were contained in that same law.

These reforms required public hearings and the Department of Insurance's approval for any increases in malpractice premiums. As a direct result, the department discovered that the state's largest malpractice insurer had been overcharging doctors. Thanks to insurance reforms, the department ordered a rebate to physicians, and it has held rates in check ever since.

In addition, the insurance reforms required the state's largest insurer to share its statewide claims data with other insurance companies. According to competing insurers, this enabled them to set accurate rates and was directly responsible for creating a level playing field for competition in Illinois. Again, insurance reforms, not verdict limits.

We agree with you on one point: malpractice cases have declined steadily since 2003. But that only proves the insurance industry misled doctors, lawmakers and the public in 2005 when they told us Illinois was facing a lawsuit crisis that required verdict limits. They claimed a lawsuit crisis, even though the decline in malpractice cases had already begun two years earlier, most likely thanks to patient safety improvements.

According to the Journal of the American Medical Association, one in three patients was the victim of a medical error over the past two years, so there is still much room for improving patient safety. Illinois can reduce medical malpractice premiums even more while still protecting patient rights by improving patient safety and leaving insurance reforms in place. We should also strike down medical malpractice caps which merely deny justice to serious victims of negligence.

-- William McNary, Co-Director of Citizen Action/Illinois