Word: nevada
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...Nevada has been especially hard hit because it's one of the states with the sharpest rise in malpractice costs. But those costs are climbing nationwide. According to one study, from 1999 to 2000 the median plaintiff's jury award in medical-malpractice cases increased 43%, from $700,000 to $1 million. Last year the MIIX Group, an insurer in 24 states, saw 26 claim payments of more than $1 million. This year it has faced an average of one new $1 million-plus claim every week...
Companies like Interstate Insurance Group and Princeton Insurance Co. have discontinued coverage in states with the largest awards, such as Nevada and Pennsylvania. Three significant malpractice insurers fell into liquidation in the past year. The insurers left in the worst markets--often smaller, physician-owned companies--do not have the capacity to absorb all the cast-off practitioners...
...risk, some companies are encouraging doctors and clinics to limit the number of patients they see. Several insurers in Las Vegas, including American Physicians Assurance Corp., offer a 25% discount to doctors who deliver fewer than 125 babies a year--half the number most local physicians deliver. Last month Nevada insurance commissioner Alice Molasky-Arman opened an inquiry into such pricing. Sheila Wright, a spokeswoman for American Physicians Assurance, said, "We don't have a choice. We are concerned about patients, but our rates reflect the risks that we take...
Both doctors and insurers say the crisis will not abate until legislatures enact reforms. President George W. Bush and the American Medical Association have called for federal limits on recovery for pain and suffering in malpractice cases, and two states, Pennsylvania and Nevada, have already enacted similar reforms. In Mississippi the Governor has called for a special legislative session this month to consider the issue...
Even when tort reforms are put in place, they can take time to bite. In Nevada, where liability caps were passed last month, most insurers have declined to lower rates until they see the change reflected on their balance sheets, which could take years. They may have a point: courts in six states have struck down as unconstitutional limits on a jury's ability to determine damages in malpractice cases, and lawyers in Nevada are readying a case against the new limits...