Doctors’ insurer seeks increase in rates

Cy Ryan and Steve Kanigher

Monday, Feb. 10, 2003 | 11:15 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- The Doctors Co., which raised medical malpractice insurance rates last September, is asking state Insurance Commission Alice Molasky-Arman for an additional increase of 16.9 percent, state officials said.

The Napa, Calif., company insures 345 physicians and 28 ancillary providers, which includes nurses, skilled technicians and others in Clark County and 443 doctors and 25 ancillary providers in the remainder of the state.

Doctors and other medical officials this morning said the proposed rate increases could drive more doctors out of Nevada.

The company wants to make the higher rates effective March 1 for new policyholders and April 1 for renewals of current policies. Company spokeswoman Cheryl Fuller had no immediate comment.

The rates for Clark County physicians would rise by an average of 14.7 percent and by 13.3 percent for those in the rest of Nevada. A spokeswoman for the state Insurance Division said the rates vary depending on the specialty of the doctor.

And the discounts are being reduced. For instance, the discounts for being claim-free are being lowered from 15 percent to 12.5 percent.

The company's last rate increase, 26 percent, was effective Sept. 1.

Larry Matheis, executive director of the Nevada Medical Association, said the rate request "continues to show that insurance carriers don't have confidence in what we have done so far to make our situation predictable."

"Until we can restore their (insurance companys') confidence, we will continue to see the exodus of doctors," he said.

He said 75 physicians have left Clark County. And he said there were a number of obstetricians and specialty physicians either leaving or retiring.

A special session of the Legislature last year passed Assembly Bill 1, a bill aimed at reducing medical malpractice insurance rates. But a group of physicians in Clark County has presented an initiative petition to the Legislature to strengthen that law.

Matheis said the rate proposal "is more evidence of why we need to take the opportunity to (re-examine) at what we have done so far." Until the law is amended further, he predicted that insurance companies will continue to apply for rate increases.

He said the Doctors Co. has applied for two or three rate increases in the last several years and "I can't say we're surprised."

"This does make the case (that) the petition is worthwhile," Matheis said.

Dr. Robert Comeau, a Las Vegas obstetrician and member of the Clark County OB/ GYN Society, agreed.

"AB1 failed and Nevada is becoming an unfriendly place for doctors," Comeau said today. "This latest news is not surprising. One of the members of our society is being sued for stretch marks. This situation is out of control.

"Our society is in support of the initiative before the Legislature because it is the only hope of improving the situation. People say, 'Wait until AB1 works.' But it isn't going to work."

AB1 caps damages for pain and suffering at $350,000 per plaintiff against each defendant, with exceptions to that cap for gross malpractice or for "exceptional circumstances" at the court's discretion.

Doctors want legislators to adopt the $250,000-per-case pain and suffering cap that exists with no exceptions in California because they believe that will lower insurance premiums that have skyrocketed over the past year. But because insurers still expect Nevada's current law or any possible revision to be challenged in court, they continue to resist lowering their rates until they know for sure that the law passes constitutional muster.

Dr. Ikram Khan, a Las Vegas surgeon, said he would not be bothered if the proposed increase was to match prevailing rates. But he said that if the increase goes above prevailing rates, "that would be a matter of very serious concern."