October 25, 2004

Dear Speaker Madigan and Senator Cullerton:

We are writing today to ask that you and your respective staffs immediately cease promoting the false charge perpetrated by plaintiff lawyers that there is a “conflict of interest” between the Illinois State Medical Society and ISMIE Mutual Insurance Company. It is completely baseless and, in our mutual view, disingenuous at best.

We have repeatedly seen this charge leveled in the media and in other forums aimed at influencing our physician members and policyholders. Part of a concerted campaign by plaintiff lawyers to discredit ISMS and ISMIE Mutual, it instead casts doubt on the motives of those who repeat it. It belies the intent of the parties with whom we are supposedly working cooperatively through mediation toward finding a solution to this crisis.

To set the record straight, ISMIE Mutual and ISMS are two independent entities, with two separate boards. ISMIE is owned and governed by the physician policyholders it insures for medical liability. ISMS is a physician membership association that represents the interests of Illinois’ patients and physicians. Since ISMIE’s inception in 1976, these two organizations have proudly worked together to achieve common goals. One strong example is our longstanding shared commitment to reforming Illinois’ broken medical litigation system. Each Board has independently reviewed the issue and reform proposals.

Plaintiff lawyers often cite three areas of alleged “conflict.”

First is that ISMIE Mutual will not release proprietary actuarial information that could be used to encourage competitors to return to the state, and that this refusal hurts physicians. We wholly dispute the notion that more and more data will solve this crisis. Competing insurers are already well aware of ISMIE’s base rates and related data, using it to establish their own premiums. To date, this knowledge has not stopped insurers from leaving Illinois.

Second is the false claim that ISMIE Mutual’s and ISMS’ interests differ on the issue of protecting physicians’ personal assets. This is untrue. We remain single minded in our view that personal assets protection for physicians must not be premised on the coerced settlement of a lawsuit. Plaintiff lawyers’ asset protection proposal would pressure physicians to settle nonmeritorious lawsuits, thus raising premiums and promoting even more litigation.

Third is the fallacious case that more insurance regulation would be good for ISMS members, and thus poses a conflict with ISMIE. Insurers in Illinois are already heavily regulated. Furthermore, our latest legislative proposal accedes to increased regulatory review. Both ISMS and ISMIE stand by our current position that onerous insurance regulation will further harm the medical liability market and increase premiums for physicians.

Finally, let us reiterate our common belief that the true solution to the current crisis lies in meaningful litigation reform, including a cap on non-economic damage awards. We will not accept watered-down or cosmetic solutions to “save face” for opponents of real reform. We find it astounding that certain lawmakers and their allies on the plaintiff’s bar continue to blame medicine for this crisis, without even a passing acknowledgment of legal system excesses at the root of the problem.

Despite these attacks, ISMIE and ISMS stand together, united and resolute in our campaign to restore balance to a legal system run amok. We will work with anyone in the legislative process willing to discuss issues in good faith. We will not, however, stand for scurrilous attacks leveled in desperation and aimed at blemishing our long record of protecting physicians and patients.

Sincerely,

Richard A. Geline, M.D. Chair, ISMS Board of Trustees	Harold L. Jensen, M.D Chairman, ISMIE Mutual Insurance Company