Missouri: Medical Malpractice Insurers Profitable 5 Years in a Row

Insurance companies providing medical malpractice coverage in Missouri were profitable in 2008. It was the fifth consecutive year for positive earnings in that line of insurance, according to Missouri Department of Insurance. The department said its annual report on the industry show policyholders filing fewer claims and insurers paying far less for those claims.

According to departmental estimates, medical malpractice insurers reported return on net worth of 24.6 percent in 2008, down slightly from the previous year. These profit margins are a dramatic increase from the earnings numbers of 1999-2003, when insurers barely broke even and actually lost money in some years.

New claims filed in 2008 reached a 10-year low: 1,245 new malpractice claims were filed. A total of 3,160 claims were still open at the end of 2008, marking the lowest number in the nearly 30 years the Department of Insurance has been collecting data on medical malpractice insurer companies.

Average claims payments also remained low, although up slightly from 2007. The average claim was just $202,612 in 2008, up from 195,239 in 2007. The highest average claim number was recorded in 2005 at $253,888.

Insurers wrote more than $206 million in premiums in 2008, with the top two carriers – Missouri Professionals Mutual and Missouri Hospital Plan – holding a combined 33 percent market share.

The most common allegations in medical malpractice cases were: Poor surgical outcomes (32 percent); Non-surgical treatment (20 percent); Diagnostic errors (18 percent); Patient safety (11 percent); Medication problems (9 percent); and Pregnancy and childbirth complications (7 percent).