Insurance Profits Rise - no thanks to caps.

Cross-posted from Illinois Deserves the Truth

In 2005 Illinois patients lost an important battle - caps, or limits, of medical malpractice awards were enacted by the State. The new law was touted by the insurance industry as the savior of rising medical liability insurance costs and would stave off insurance companies from bankruptcy. Because medical malpractice cases take many years to go before a court, to date no medical malpractice case award has been decided under this anti-patient caps law.

So you may be surprised after all of the rhetoric to see that Illinois' largest medical liability company, ISMIE Mutual Insurance, collected over $100 million more than it paid out and claimed over $40 million in profits in 2007 according to papers filed with the the Illinois Department of Insurance. While this is a drop from 2006 record profits for the company, from $50 million to $40 million, there are no signs that the lack of caps being applied has hindered their profits.

In a release by Public News Service,

Illinois Trial Lawyers Association president Bruce Kohen says he has seen malpractice insurance company profits that have more than doubled over the past few years, which makes it look like someone is playing the fool on this April 1st.

"There's clear evidence that arbitrary and excessive insurance premiums are not only taking advantage of patients in Illinois, but the doctors themselves."

The people truly hurt by these limits, or caps, are the innocent victims of medical malpractice. People who by no fault of their own have their lives ruined and live in constant pain, unable to complete the simplest of tasks and with the constant reminder of the high cost of medical malpractice.

Late last year a Cook County Judge declared these caps unconstitutional. Kohen commented on the decision,

Our [Illinois] Constitution does not allow those who have been most seriously injured as a result of medical negligence to have their rights taken away in order to give bonuses to insurance companies.

The Illinois Supreme Court is scheduled to hear this decision later this year and decide the fate of this law.

Let's hope that the Illinois high court will once again strike down these caps, as they have done to similar limits in the past.