William F. Smith: “Today, America faces a national insurance crisis that is destroying our health care system. Medical liability insurance…”

“Today, America faces a national insurance crisis that is destroying our health care system. Medical liability insurance rates have soared, causing insurers either to drop their coverage or raise premiums to unaffordable levels. Doctors and other health care providers have been forced to abandon patients and practices, particularly in high-risk specialties such as emergency medicine, brain surgery, and obstetrics and gynecology. This is an intolerable problem that cries out for a solution. The American people understand the problem. A poll conducted in early February shows that 59 percent of all Americans believe the crisis should be solved either by reining in personal injury lawyers or by placing caps on the amounts juries can award. The obvious cause of skyrocketing medical professional liability premiums is escalating jury verdicts. The median medical malpractice jury award doubled between 1995 and 2000, from a half a million to $1 million. That does not reflect the huge costs of cases that do not result in jury awards. In fact, 70 percent of all medical malpractice claims result in no payments because claims are either dismissed or withdrawn. The CEO of Methodist Children's Hospital in my hometown of San Antonio has seen his premiums increase from less than $20,000 to $85,000 in less than 10 years.”