Medical malpractice insurance companies pushed hard on tort reform after they lost money (along with everyone else) in the stock market a few years back.
Jordan Margolis, a Chicago personal injury lawyer, recently reported on his blog, that new studies show that we are not in a medical malpractice insurance crisis now.
Magolis notes:
Just as consumer rights organizations predicted, the so-called "Medical Malpractice Insurance Crisis" has ended, not because of tort reform, but because of the cyclical nature of insurance underwriting and investment returns.
According to the American Inusrance Reform study, physician premiums increased 0% in 2005, after a modest 3% increase in 2004. Before that, in 2002, they had skyrocket 63%. The stabilization occurred nationwide, not as a result of any "caps" on victim compensation but, rather, as always occurs every 10 to 15 years, when the "hard" market turned "soft."