STUDY: Illinois Medical Malpractice ruling to boost insurers’ costs 18%

We here at Cunningham Group were extremely disappointed that trial lawyers got their way in Illinois and were able to strike down the 2005 Tort Reform legislation put into place to help with the absurd insurance rates physicians have to pay for their professional medical liability. A new study conducted by the consulting firm Millman Inc said that costs are likely to jump 18% now that the Illinois State Supreme Court ruled that the tort reform legislation limiting jury payouts is unconstitutional.

From a recent Crains article:

The consulting firm said the recent removal of caps on malpractice awards would lead to higher costs per malpractice claim, on average. The number of people suing their doctors also is likely to rise, the firm said.

“The magnitude of the estimated increase is largely a reflection of the tort environment in Illinois,” Chad Karls, a principal at Seattle-based Milliman, said in a statement. “In Illinois, claim severities have been among the highest in the country.”

Here is a video explaining the background of the Tort Reform put into place in 2005, and what one of the new med-mal insurance companies who recently entered Illinois, because there was Tort Reform in place, Medicus, had to say about the state’s environment:

Since 1947, Cunningham Group’s main priority has been to find the lowest medical malpractice insurance prices for physicians in Illinois and across the nation. Please click above and we will get you quotes from every malpractice insurance carrier, so you be assured that you are paying the absolute lowest price.