Malpractice carrier wants to raise rates

Friday, March 26, 2004 | 11:18 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- An insurance company that provides medical malpractice coverage for about 200 doctors in Nevada is asking for a 24 percent rate increase.

The Medical Protective Company has filed an application with state Insurance Commissioner Alice Molasky-Arman proposing to put the new rates into effect in July.

A spokeswoman for the state Insurance Division said most of the 200 doctors were in Las Vegas, but there was no exact breakdown.

Earlier this year, Molasky-Arman granted a petition by Physicians Insurance Company of Wisconsin Inc. to boost rates 15 percent, which goes into effect April 1. Physicians Insurance covers 313 physicians in Clark County and 22 in the rest of the state.

GE Global Insurance Group was granted a 63 percent increase in June 2002.

Larry Matheis, executive director of the Nevada State Medical Association, said the rate increases show that the laws passed by the special session of the Legislature and the 2003 Legislature on medical malpractice have not solved the problem.

He said doctors are having to take out loans to pay for the insurance coverage or cut back their hours of practice or reduce the number of hospitals where they practice.

The problem that originated in Southern Nevada has now expanded to the Reno and rural areas, said Matheis. The five companies still writing insurance have all had major rate increases. He said about five firms have left or are planning to depart Nevada.

Only the Medical Liability Association of Nevada -- the company the state helped create -- hasn't increased rates, Matheis said.