NEW MEXICO’S MED-MAL RATES UP 9.8 PERCENT:

The Associated Press reported New Mexico medical malpractice insurance premiums have increased an average 9.8 percent this year, according to R. Kevin Clinton, president of American Physicians Capital Inc. Last year, rates went up 14 percent and in 2002, rates increased by 35 percent. Clinton told the New Mexico Medical Society that high risk specialists had increases of up to 19 percent. American Physicians Capital insures most doctors in the state.