Cyrus Dugger
West Virginia & Medical Malpractice Stats
West Virginia: Revenue for malpractice insurers in West Virginia in 2005 exceeded costs by more than 200%, according to a report recently released by the state Insurance Commission, the Charleston Gazette reports (Finn, Charleston Gazette, 11/14). According to the report, the profit margin for malpractice insurers in the state exceeded the national average ( AP/Charleston Daily Mail, 11/14). Profits for malpractice insurers in the state have increased in recent years in large part because the number of lawsuits filed in state courts decreased from 379 in 2001 to 193 in 2005, the report states. Since 2001, the state has enacted laws to cap damages in malpractice lawsuits and to require attorneys to receive certification from a judge before they can file such lawsuits ( Charleston Gazette, 11/14).
Posted at 11:43 AM, Nov 20, 2006 in Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)
Comments
When you cut and paste from a press release instead of providing hypertext links to the cited sources, you greatly misunderstand the purpose of a blog.
Dugger's regurgitation forgets to mention that West Virginia's largest medical-malpractice insurer, West Virginia Mutual, is a nonprofit mutual company, which means that any profits will be returned to policyholders.
This type of misleading post is a continual problem because Dugger's kneejerk attacks on insurance companies reflect a simple lack of understanding how the different insurance markets function.
Whatever Dugger was regurgitating from is also misleading in failing to note that the number of WV malpractice suits filed in 2001 was abnormally high because of attorneys rushing to file lawsuits before the reforms took effect.
Posted by: Ted | November 22, 2006 02:27 PM