December 8, 2006

Rockford Register-Star
Via e-mail

To the Editor:

Wally Haas’ December 1 st column stated that “it looks like competition—not the caps—will lead to lower insurance rates.” If this is true, then why did one such insurer’s recent rate reduction announcement directly attribute its Illinois expansion not only to increased access to ISMIE data, but also to “tort reforms [that] have together improved our ability to predict losses and refine our pricing”? Of interest is that this insurer’s 32% rate decrease merely brought its 2007 premiums to ISMIE’s current base rates.

Insurers know through experience that meaningful medical litigation reforms, if allowed to take hold, will bring stability to our medical liability market. In addition to their newfound presence in Illinois, several of these companies also write business in states where liability caps have been upheld. Look at their rates for states with reforms in place, in comparison to those of pre-reform Illinois. You’ll see firsthand that medical liability caps do indeed work.

ISMIE’s 30-year presence in a tumultuous medical liability market has been steadfast. Allow me to say again that we at ISMIE welcome the competition. We hope these enterprises are committed to staying. All too often, doctors have been left holding the bag with little or no options for liability insurance protection.

As for the recently filed case challenging the caps, ISMIE expected personal injury lawyers would target the caps for a high profile constitutional fight. Without getting into the complicated specifics of the case, we firmly believe the caps on non-economic damage awards will pass constitutional scrutiny.

Sincerely,

Harold L. Jensen, M.D.
Chairman, ISMIE Mutual Insurance Company

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