Below, we have attached a release that demonstrates what we have been advocating for years: that the insurance industry’s cries of medical malpractice cases causing a “malpractice crisis” were in fact false and made up by the insurance industry. Trial lawyers are easy targets and the insurance industry spends tens of millions of dollars every year to distort the truth so that they can continue increasing their profits while decreasing the rates they reimburse health care providers while at the same time raising the rates of insurance and improperly denying valid claims.

It is business practices such as these that demonstrate the importance of continuing equal justice to all under our civil justice system and not a system that only protects those with the most money, like the insurance industry. Trial lawyers continue to fight for you and your families so that your rights are not further taken away by greedy insurance executives.

The insurance industry’s attempts to limit your rights should not be tolerated.

Call your Representatives and Senators and let them know how disgusted you are at being duped by the insurance industry. Tell your friends and neighbors. Your family is worth it.

Goldberg Finnegan – Silver Spring personal injury lawyers that are dedicated to “Protecting Your Rights”.

Medical Malpractice Insurers Earning More Than Ever

10 biggest malpractice insurers have average profits higher than 99% of Fortune 500 companies

Washington, DC-As Congress debates nationwide health care reform, a new analysis reveals malpractice insurers have long-played a cruel hoax on legislators and the public. By systematically distorting profits and losses, insurers created phony “financial crises,” so lawmakers would limit the legal rights of injured patients. Today, while premiums and health care costs skyrocket, malpractice insurers have average profits higher than 99 percent of Fortune 500 companies.

The key findings of the report, which analyzes the annual financial statements of the 10 largest U.S. medical malpractice insurers, include:

  • The average profit of these insurance companies is higher than 99 percent of all Fortune 500 companies and 35 times higher than the Fortune 500 average for the same time period.
  • Malpractice insurers have seen their profit margins range from 5.9 percent to 74.8 percent, with an average of 31.2 percent.
  • Medical malpractice insurers have underestimated profits and overestimated losses, creating overblown insurance “crises” to garner support for limiting patients’ legal rights. Then years later after the “crises” abated, revised filings show the companies were never in the financial peril they claimed.
  • After overestimating losses, insurers have since reported that losses over the last five years have been approximately 13.5 percent lower than initially reported.
  • By overestimating losses, companies have underestimated profits. Insurers averaged about 5.1 percent higher profits last year and 12.4 percent higher profits two years ago; these levels of profits will likely rise as upward revisions are made.
  • Medical negligence laws were passed under false pretenses. Overblown reported losses were used by the insurance industry to justify new measures restricting the rights of those injured by medical negligence.

“Insurance companies are gouging doctors on their premiums to mislead lawmakers. And today, injured patients are often left with no avenue to pursue justice, while health care costs continue to skyrocketing,” said American Association for Justice President Anthony Tarricone, managing partner at Kreindler & Kreindler LLP.

“As Congress looks to overhaul our nation’s health care system, it’s clear that limiting the legal rights of patients won’t lower health care costs or cover the uninsured,” continued Tarricone. “The focus should be on eliminating medical errors that injure or kill tens of thousands of Americans every year. Insurance companies clearly don’t need another handout.”

As part of its ongoing series on the topic, AAJ earlier released Medical Negligence: A Primer for the Nation’s Health Care Debate and the Truth About “Defensive Medicine.” these reports, as well as the Insurance Hoax: How Doctors and Patients Pay for the Huge Earnings of Medical Malpractice Insurers.