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Two years after the Mississippi Legislature passed comprehensive tort reform legislation to end lawsuit abuse, medical malpractice liability rates continue to decrease.

In September, the largest insurer of doctors in Mississippi announced its third reduction in medical liability insurance rates. Ridgeland-based Medical Assurance Company of Mississippi (MACM) said it would reduce its medical liability insurance rates across the board by 10 percent for 2007. In September 2005, the MACM board of directors reduced renewal rates for 2006 by 5 percent, and in December 2005 granted a retroactive refund of up to 15 percent on 2005 premiums.

"This across-the-board reduction in medical liability rates by the largest insurer of doctors in Mississippi is a significant and welcome decision that will have an immediate positive impact," said Republican Gov. Haley Barbour. "It's another concrete example of how tort reform is working to protect the quality and availability of healthcare by ending lawsuit abuse and leading to reduced medical liability rates in Mississippi. This is great news."

The comprehensive Tort Reform Act of 2004 was passed in a special session Barbour called to consider his proposal to effectively end lawsuit abuse in Mississippi, improve access to healthcare for all Mississippians, and provide a fair legal climate to stimulate job creation.

"There's no disputing the fact that frivolous lawsuits increased the cost of healthcare and caused doctors to leave the state and hospitals to lose insurance," said Barbour. "Obstetric wards were closing and neurosurgeons had stopped performing emergency surgery."

Mississippi had been saddled with a ranking as the worst state in the nation for lawsuit abuse, according to the United States Chamber of Commerce, and unacceptably high liability insurance rates were forcing doctors to close their practices.

Since enacting what The Wall Street Journal called the most comprehensive tort reform law in the nation, more than 50 new insurance programs have launched in Mississippi and medical liability cases against Mississippi doctors have dropped by nearly 90 percent.

"MACM has reduced their rates twice and written more business since civil justice reform has happened, but we've not seen an influx of new companies coming back to write medical malpractice coverage," said Mississippi's Commissioner of Insurance George Dale, the longest-serving insurance commissioner in the United States. "There aren't many companies left doing it because it's a very specialized writing. Companies nationwide have grown fewer and fewer. St. Paul was the nation's largest writer and when they got out of the business several years ago, a big vacuum was created. The only way that vacuum was filled was with the type of plan we see from MACM."

Dale, who was first elected to the post in 1975, expects to see rates continue to decline.

"Of course, insurance companies are profit driven and over a period of time — as it looks like it's evident that a profit can be made in medical malpractice — I anticipate we'll see companies coming back into the market," he said. "They're very adept at making money."

Dale, a Democrat, said he believes MACM's latest reduction "proves to some doubters that civil justice reform was needed and is beginning to work."

"We met with officers of MACM (in early October) and they were very delighted with what has happened with their ability to reduce rates," he said. "They anticipate going forward that this would continue to be a trend."

MACM officials could not be reached by press time for comment on this story.

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