Liability Reform Talking Points - Liability Reform Poll - Liability Reform Review - Liability Reform Plan

COMPARISON

Governor's Liability Reform Proposal with the LRC's Comprehensive Reform (SB 6520)

1. The omnibus reform bill provides a comprehensive solution to the liability insurance crisis. The governor's proposal is a limited, piecemeal approach that does not address the problem as a whole.

2. While some of the governor's proposal is worthwhile, it is not a substitute for a comprehensive reform measure. Some of the governor's proposals are already included in the Omnibus Bill.

3. The governor's proposal is too limited in addressing only medical liability problems. There is nothing to help businesses, governments and non-profits on their general liability issues.

4. The Omnibus Bill includes a number of important reforms that are not part of the governor's package including:

• a $250,000 cap on non-economic damages in medical malpractice cases;

• changes in the tort law system, such as requiring claims to be made closer to the time of the alleged injury, and

• a sliding scale for personal injury attorney fees that will give greater percentages of awards to injured parties as the amount of the award increases.

5. The Omnibus Bill will limit excessive and unfair judgments while the governor's proposal merely requires doctors and hospitals to pay two premiums - one to their insurance company and one to the state "Patient Compensation Fund".

6. The governor's proposal includes a number of provisions that merely restate current practice. For example the Medical Quality Assurance Commission already actively investigates physicians with multiple judgments and the Insurance Commission already has and uses regulatory authority to require reports from insurers.

7. Increasing Medicaid reimbursements should be supported. But alone it doesn't solve the long-term problem. Most Medicaid doctors also practice medicine for non-Medicaid patients. They must be able to keep their practices going to even take Medicaid patients. If they can't stay in business because they can't afford medical mal premiums, they won't be there to take Medicaid patients and/or receive the reimbursement.

8. Joint Underwriting Associations - are a stopgap measure only for a very limited number of providers. With carriers leaving the market, the state cannot put a patchwork of JUA's together for every subgroup.