Study finds malpractice insurers "gouge" doctors and reap stunning profits

The American Association of Justice (essentially America's trial lawyers) funded a study of insurance profits by malpractice insurers.  It reported this week that the insurers achieved "astronomical" profits year after year--higher than 99 percent of Fortune 500 companies.  The Washington Independent quoted the Report as concluding that the malpractice insurance companies studied reported profits that were 35 times higher than the Fortune 500 average and ranged from a low of 5.9 percent to a high of 74.8 percent.  The average reported profit for these insurers during the period was 31.2 percent.  Nowhere else in our economy can a corporation or individual anticipate achieving profits that even approach this level--and yet the public conversation about malpractice "reforms" has focused solely on eliminating the rights of badly-injured individuals, rather than redressing premium-gouging of doctors by insurance companies.