Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2003/03/02
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]It is easy to pick on insurance companies, we all hate them, and I was laid off by one (reinsurance, OK, but still...) last year. But consider that even with the current sky-high premiums, medical malpractice insurance is by far the most unprofitable line of business for U.S. insurers. Last year the claims-to-premiums ratio was something like 145%. When the stock markets are doing well, insurers can tolerate ratios above 100% (maybe up to 110% or so) because of the profits they make investing the premiums until the money is needed to pay claims. Obviously, in the current environment that route is not available. Until some sort of sensible tort reform is instituted, medical malpractice costs will continue to rise, and more and more insurers will stop writing such coverage altogether. Nathan Jim Hemenway wrote: > Ernie: > > This is what I've suspected since 10 or so years ago, when the insurance > companies successfully fought off the Clinton'e attempts to bring some > rationality to the health care business. > - -- Nathan Wajsman Herrliberg (ZH), Switzerland e-mail: nathanw@bluewin.ch mobile: +41 78 732 1430 Photo-A-Week: http://www.wajsman.com/indexpaw2003.htm General photo site: http://www.wajsman.com/index.htm - -- To unsubscribe, see http://mejac.palo-alto.ca.us/leica-users/unsub.html