Ohio Department Says Malpractice Insurance Rates Decrease for Docs

Four of the state’s five largest medical malpractice insurers have revised their rates to produce an average decrease of almost 2 percent for Ohio doctors this year, following years of increases, the Ohio Department of Insurance said Wednesday.

The 1.7 percent decrease in rates follows an average increase of 6.7 percent in 2005, and hikes of 20 percent in 2004 and 30 percent in each of the two previous years.

“Stabilizing measures taken in the last few years by the Ohio Department of Insurance and the Ohio Legislature to reverse Ohio’s medical liability insurance crisis continue to show positive results,” Director Ann Womer Benjamin said in a release. “We are still closely monitoring the market and rates to ensure Ohio’s health care delivery system remains functional.”

One of the insurers, Medical Protective Co., became the first in six years to lower rates when the department approved a 5 percent decrease in January. A decrease of 3.6 percent from American Physicians Assurance Corp. went into effect Nov. 1, the department said.

The OHIC Insurance Co. increased its rates by 2.3 percent after six years of hikes in the double digits, and the Medical Assurance Co.’s rate revision didn’t change its average rates, according to the department.

The department said the effort to stabilize rates in Ohio includes a 2003 state law that limits the amount of jury awards in malpractice lawsuits. Insurance companies had blamed high jury awards for higher rates.

The state also is collecting and monitoring medical liability data, including insurers’ costs to defend lawsuits and pay judgments and settlements, and requiring insurers to justify their rates every year.