Insurance Reform is the Answer! Here’s the Proof!
Insurance Industry Reform Lowers Medical Costs for All of Us!

Caps on Recovery have Never Lowered or Held the Reins on Malpractice Insurance Rates!  Only Insurance Industry Reform has Worked – and Here’s the Proof!

California was able to control rising malpractice premiums through the passage of insurance legislation, including mandatory experience rating so that physicians with repeated successful cases against them paid higher premiums than those with none or only one case.  The Pennsylvania Legislature is considering similar legislation in Senate Bill 990.  State Senators have also proposed legislation which would compel insurance companies to justify rate hikes of malpractice premiums before imposing them on their clients. Patient safety at risk!

Click here to download Pennsylvania Senate Bill 990 (pdf format)

Consumer Group Says Evidence Mounting That Skyrocketing Insurance Rates Not Tied To Jury Verdicts. Reforming Insurance Industry Only Way To Solve "Crisis" Click here to read more

Harvard professor and medical doctor Lucian Leape found that the studies of medical error were not exaggerated (JAMA July 5, 2000 Vol. 284 p. 95-97) and concluded from his own studies of thousands of hospitals' charts that "there is a substantial amount of injury to patients from medical management and many injuries are the result of substandard care" "Incidence of Adverse Events and Negligence in Hospitalized Patients" The New England Journal of Medicine Vol. 324 Feb. 7, 1991 p. 370-376.

Public Citizen, a national consumer not-for-profit released a report in March 2004 (The Facts About Medical Malpractice in Pennsylvania) extrapolating the Institute of Medicine findings and concluded that over 4,000 patients died in Pennsylvania Hospitals in 2003 from preventable medical mistakes.  On April 14, 2004, Public Citizen reported that Pennsylvania's Professional medical Board ranked among the ten worst in the country in disciplining physicians. "Public Citizen ranks Performance of State Medical Boards in 2003".

 And the Journal of Medicine published additional studies concluding that adverse drug events are common and often preventable among older persons in the ambulatory clinical setting "Incidence and Preventability of Adverse Drug Events Among Older Persons in the Ambulatory Setting" JAMA Vol. 289, No. 9 March 5, 2003 p. 1107-1115. Physicians further concluded that the causes of injury were rooted at the deepest policy and organizational levels of medical care and patient safety efforts should focus on medical errors. JAMA Vol. 287 No. 15 April 17, 2002 p. 1997-2001.