Miss. Medical Assurance Co. Announces 5 Percent Decrease in Medical Malpractice Rates

Medical Assurance Co. of Mississippi, a physician owned provider which covers about 70 percent of the state’s physicians, has announced a 5 percent decrease in its 2006 malpractice rates and a 10 percent refund on 2005 premiums.

The premium reductions are Mississippi doctors’ first taste of relief from malpractice insurance premiums since the legislature approved tort reform legislation three years ago.

“It’s a tremendous step in the right direction,” Dr. Dick White, a Tupelo obstetrician and state chairman for the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists told the Tupelo Daily-Journal.

Before rates held steady in 2004, physicians had seen huge jumps in malpractice premiums. During his 13 years in practice, Tupelo surgeon Dr. David Gilliland has watched his malpractice rates double and triple.

“They’re still astronomical” Gilliland said of the malpractice rates, “but they’re trying to help.”

Obstetricians and neurosurgeons typically have the highest malpractice insurance rates. White and his five partners each would have paid $88,000 for their 2006 premiums plus additional fees to insure their clinic.

Family practice and internal medicine physicians typically pay considerably less. Insurance for surgeons varies depending on the procedures they perform.

Stable, reasonable malpractice insurance rates are an essential part of keeping clinic door’s open, Dr. Ken Davis, chief medical officer at North Mississippi Health Services told the Daily-Journal. “I hope this helps retain physicians and bring more in.”

Observers say the improved, more predictable legal climate is responsible for the improvement.

“We’ve seen a drop in the frequency of claims,” explained Gerald Wages, NMMC executive vice president, who serves the president of the Mississippi State Hospital Association and has been involved in efforts to keep malpractice insurance available over the past few years. “On the hospital side, we’ve seen rates level off too.”

Medical Assurance Company of Mississippi is one of only two providing malpractice insurance in the state. Wages said some small companies are showing interest in returning to the Mississippi market, but most of the major companies are not getting involved in medical malpractice.

If there will be further relief from high malpractice rates remains to be seen.

“It will depend on what the federal government does on tort reform,” Gilliland said.

The reduction was approved late last month by MACM’s board of directors.

“I am pleased that MACM is in a financial position to take these steps. This is further proof that recent reforms continue to show that Mississippi can maintain a fair and equitable marketplace for those companies who write medical malpractice insurance,” Mississippi Insurance Commissioner George Dale said.

In 2004, the Mississippi Legislature approved limits on civil lawsuits in response to complaints that high insurance rates were driving physicians out of the state.

“Some people are still saying tort reform didn’t work,” Dale said. “Well, this is a good example that it is beginning to work.”
Dale said the improvement in MACM’s financial condition was accomplished without increasing premiums in 2005 and with investment income projected to be roughly the same it was in the previous two years.

Topics Trends Pricing Trends Mississippi Medical Professional Liability