It Figures

2 percent
Four of the Ohio’s five largest medical malpractice insurers have revised their rates to produce an average decrease of almost 2 percent for Ohio doctors this year, following years of increases, the Ohio Department of Insurance said.

The 1.7 percent decrease in rates follows an average increase of 6.7 percent in 2005, and hikes of 20 percent in 2004 and 30 percent in each of the two previous years. One of the insurers, Medical Protective Co., became the first in six years to lower rates when the department approved a 5 percent decrease in January. A decrease of 3.6 percent from American Physicians Assurance Corp. went into effect Nov. 1, the department said.

15 million
A Las Vegas woman whose son was born in 2001 with cerebral palsy and other health problems has been awarded more than $15 million by a Ramsey County jury. J. Richard Bland, the attorney for the Minnesota Medical Insurance Co., said he would ask Judge David Higgs to set aside the Oct. 26 verdict. Jurors decided that Dr. Samuel Donegan of the Aspen Medical Group and staff at United Hospital in St. Paul failed to react to signs that Meshell Davis and her baby, Dhevyn, were in distress during the birth. Jurors found Donegan 90 percent liable and United Hospital 10 percent.
Source: AP

5 million
Des Moines, Iowa-based Wellmark Inc. has committed $5 million in venture capital to help encourage business development and expansion in rural Iowa communities. The effort is through the Iowa Farm Bureau’s Renew Rural Iowa program, which was launched in September and targets communities with less than 30,000 people. Wellmark is the first outside investor to commit to the program. Wellmark’s commitment is part of its $25 million, five-year effort begun in 2002 to help start and expand Iowa-based businesses.
Source: AP

17.6 million
A federal judge approved the sale of a Chicago suburban estate that belonged to a jailed insurance executive after a building company and preservationists agreed on how to develop the historic property. The judge okayed the $17.6 million sale a month after Highland Park, Ill., preservationists expressed fears that the Lake Michigan shoreline estate, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, could be subdivided and its character lost. Michael Segal forfeited the property as part of his conviction in 2004 for fraud, racketeering and embezzlement. He was sentenced to 10 years in prison and ordered to forfeit $30 million for looting a trust account at his Near North Insurance Brokerage.
Source: AP