Word: weiss
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...Elaine Weiss sits to her rabbi's left, her back straight, knees primly together, a look of concentration on her face. There is a full house this Sabbath evening at Temple Israel in New Rochelle, N.Y., and Weiss's proud family is in the third pew. In minutes she will be called to the Torah to chant from the sixth chapter of the Book of Numbers, her rite of passage into full Jewish adulthood. One is tempted to say, "Today Elaine Weiss is a woman," except that she has been one a while: she is 62. Nearby sit five other...
...such spectacles should not obscure the singular journey implicit in every adult Bat Mitzvah, Elaine Weiss's included. Weiss grew up Orthodox. Her brothers were Bar Mitzvahed--she remembers flinging celebratory candy from the women's balcony--but she never even took Hebrew. Feeling "empty" at mostly Hebrew services, she gravitated to Reform Judaism, whose prayer book provides English translations. A son was Bar Mitzvahed at Temple Israel and two daughters Bat Mitzvahed. But something was still wrong. One day Weiss visited the grave of a grandfather who had been a rabbi. She could not read the Hebrew...
That realization, she says, led her to the lectern tonight. Weiss gazes down at the Torah scroll and chants, "Kol y-may neez-ro" ("Throughout his term as Nazarite"). That portion of the Scripture is about a group of ancient Jews (Nazarites) who, though not born into a priestly class, find their way to holiness through personal effort. A little later on, in a speech, Weiss explains, "I feel somewhat like a Nazarite tonight...
...everyone accepts that link. "In theory, tort reform would have an impact on premiums. In reality, that has not been the case," says Martin Weiss, chairman of Weiss Ratings, an independent insurance-rating agency in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla. In a study published this week, Weiss Ratings found that in states without caps on noneconomic damages, median annual premiums for standard medical-malpractice coverage rose 36% between 1991 and 2002. But in states with caps, premiums rose even more--48%. In the two groups of states, median 2002 premiums were about the same. Weiss found nine states with flat...
Caps on noneconomic damages may not hold down doctors' insurance costs, but they have boosted insurers' profits. In states with caps, the Weiss study found, claims payments grew only 38%, compared with 71% in states without them. By raising premiums, insurers have improved their ratio of claims to premiums, a key measure of profitability, from 110% in 2000 to 89% in 2002. "The caps are great for insurers," Weiss says. "Their payouts will be lower. In a perfect world, they would pass that savings on." But the industry's losses have been so large that lower claims will not reverse...