Ensign touts cap on jury awards

Erin Neff

Wednesday, May 29, 2002 | 9:37 a.m.

Sen. John Ensign met this morning with dozens of local officials affected by the state's rising medical malpractice insurance rates to share his idea of a long-term solution to the problem.

Ensign, R-Nev., is expected to introduce a companion bill to House legislation sometime in the next few months that would cap jury awards at $250,000 for non-economic damages in malpractice cases.

He shared information about the HEALTH Act this morning with 45 invited guests representing health care organizations, hospitals, unions, gaming companies, chambers of commerce, contractors and medical schools.

The HEALTH Act, whose chief sponsor is House Policy Chairman Christopher Cox, R-Calif., caps noneconomic damages but allows unlimited recovery for injuries.

The act also has a fair-share rule, by which damages in a health care lawsuit are allocated in direct proportion to fault.

Later this morning at a press conference at Valley Hospital Medical Center, Ensign was expected to promote the HEALTH Act as a long-term solution to the spiraling insurance rates in Nevada and other states.

But aides said the legislation will be a hard sell in the Democratic-controlled Senate. Ensign's bill is identical to one already introduced in the Republican-led House, but Ensign has thus far been unable to get a Democrat co-sponsor.

Ensign's staff will be focusing on Democratic senators in states affected by similar medical malpractice crises. But Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., is not on their list of potential sponsors.

In 1998, when Ensign ran against Reid, the two sparred at length over tort reform in a debate at Sun City.

Reid and many Democrats side with trial lawyers, who claim limiting jury awards in malpractice cases is unjust because it is hard to put a price tag on someone's life-altering injury, suffering or death as a result of malpractice.

And now that Reid is assistant majority leader, Ensign's staff has not even approached Reid about co-sponsorship.

Ensign said the HEALTH Act's capping of jury awards at $250,000 -- the same amount California has had for years -- is the only way to offer a long-term solution to the rising insurance rates that have led many Nevada doctors to threaten to leave the state.

"Gov. Guinn is doing what he can to provide short-term solutions," Ensign said. "This is a long-term answer."

Guinn also scheduled a news conference today to discuss the steps he's taking to address the crisis. The governor, who already established a state-run insurance underwriting association, was expected today to announce premium reductions for doctors in high-risk specialties who have already entered the state's insurance program.

Doctors who perform surgery and deliver babies are among those with the highest malpractice insurance rates.

Nevada's crisis began last December, when the St. Paul Cos. of Minnesota decided to pull out of the market, leaving nearly half of the state's doctors without coverage and few other insurers willing to enter a market with no jury award caps.

Ensign's bill points squarely at lawsuits as a major cause of rising insurance rates.

Tort reform is also expected to be a significant issue during the 2003 Legislature.