According to the National Association of Insurance Commissioners , companies selling medical malpractice insurance in Texas made $807,325,106 profit in the first three years following tort reform. In 2006, more than 50 cents of every dollar collected was profit.
A disturbing trend is emerging due to “tort reform:” Fewer injured consumers are able to be fully compensated through the court system and more are being forced onto taxpayer-funded government and charity healthcare programs. For example, a baby injured by medical negligence can’t recover damages because of tort reform, and thus is cared for from now on by Medicaid. Or a worker is injured by a defective product but preemption shields the manufacturer from liability, so the worker goes onto Social Security Disability.
It is sad and ironic that one of the darlings of conservatives - tort reform and reduced access to the courthouse - is shifting this burden onto taxpayers, a burden which was once shared with the insurance industry.
The Texas Department of Insurance and Allstate entered into an agreement whereby the insurance giant will refund some money to policyholders and reduce their rates.
The Fort Worth Star-Telegram reports that Allstate must pay $36.8 million in refunds for new and renewal policies written between Dec. 1, 2004 and April 23, 2006; give credits or refunds that amount to 3 percent of premiums for most policies written between Aug. 20, 2007 and June 1, 2008; cut homeowners rates by 3 percent on average statewide for most policies written between June 2, 2008 and at least June 1, 2009; and not increase rates between June 2, 2008 and June 1, 2009.
I’m skeptical of any agreements reached by Big Insurance and the lapdog TDI, particularly knowing how the insurance companies fight meaningful regulation tooth-and-nail. This could be good for consumers or it could just be window dressing (like when TMLT doubled medical malpractice insurance premiums prior to the “tort deform” debacle of 2003 and them hailed an 11% reduction a year later - yipee).
With all these “reductions,” consumers can go broke saving money.
The New York Times reports that since 2001, employees’ average cost of an annual health care premiums for family coverage has nearly doubled — to $3,300, up from $1,800 — while incomes have come nowhere close to keeping up. Factor in other out-of-pocket medical costs, and the portion of the average American household’s income that goes toward health care has risen about 12 percent, according to the consulting and accounting firm Deloitte, and is now approaching one-fifth of the average household’s spending.
But I thought health care would become more affordable once we passed tort reform…wasn’t that one of the promises the insurance and medical lobbies made when they bought the Legislature and sold our rights?
State Farm boosting home rates again, especially on coast, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram reports today.
“State Farm blamed the increase along the coast on the increased cost of reinsurance, which insurance companies buy to guard against the huge losses associated with hurricanes.
Galveston County residents who have both home and auto insurance through State Farm will see their rates go up by 7.9 percent, according to the Texas Department of Insurance. Those residents who have home insurance only will see their rates go up by more than 20 percent, according to the department.
The department says State Farm will take in $42 million more statewide annually because of the adjustments. By contrast, the company estimates increased revenue at $35 million to $40 million.
State Farm has 29.3 percent of the home-insurance market in Texas.
In 2003, regulators ordered the company to roll back home rates by 12 percent, but it has refused and is fighting the order in court.”
Medicare, soon to be followed by private health insurers, will no longer pay for medical treatment of preventable injuries caused by medical errors. Medicare lists eight “hospital-caused preventable injuries,” including urinary tract infections from catheters, falls, pressure sores, and embolism. After October 1st, if a Medicare patient develops one of these eight injuries, Medicare won’t pay for treatment. Apparently under this plan, hospitals cannot bill the patient, either.
I don’t know what to think about this. On one hand, if it truly becomes a matter of economic incentive for the hospitals, perhaps they will take more precautions to avoid these problems. On the other hand, this could lead to decreased quality of care for those patients who end up with these preventable injuries which no one is paying to treat. The number-crunchers in hospital administration might try to cut their loses by withholding appropriate and expensive care. It also seems that the patient could be caught in a tug-of-war between the hospitals and the insurers over whether or not something was preventable in the first place.
Bottom line, patients will end up getting screwed by this. Woe be to those in Texas, where the tort-deform insurance lobbyists and many of your elected representatives have just about driven the last nails into injured consumers’ coffins.
This makes me seethe.
Wal-Mart employee suffers brain damage in a truck wreck, Wal-Mart’s health plan pays for medical treatment (which it agreed to do when it took premiums from the employee), employee gets a $417,000 settlement from the trucking company (which is put into trust to pay for her on-going nursing home care) and now Wal-Mart sues the brain-damaged employee for the $470,000 the health plan paid plus its attorneys’ fees (which, at least in Texas, the injured employee would not be able to recover from the trucking company). It’s called subrogation, which is a fancy word for “insurance company screws the little guy.”
The biggest corporation in the world is taking this lady’s last dime, leaving her future medical care to be paid by Medicaid, which means you get to pay for it.
Watch this video and think about this the next time you decide to shop at Wal-Mart.
Allstate refuses to turn over documents in a Missouri lawsuit which pertain to company policies “allegedly” designed to shortchange clients while earning itself huge profits. Even the Missouri Supreme Court, not exactly known as a hot bed of liberal judicial activism, orders Allstate to turn over the documents. They still refuse. So the trial judge fines Allstate $25,000 per day until the turn them over. They still refuse. This has been going on since September.
The fine currently exceeds $2.4 million. Yet Allstate’s lawyers say the company will not produce these records for public view no matter how much the court fines them.
This display of arrogance and contempt towards courts and the rule of law is just mind-boggling. But perhaps most disturbing is how Allsnake will stop at nothing to screw their own insureds.
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Steven C. Laird Is Board Certified in Personal Injury Trial Law and Civil Trial Law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization. Law Office Is Located in Fort Worth, TX
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