Immediate Annuities Appealing To Pre-Retirees Survey Finds

Republican leaders brought S. 11 up for a vote after efforts to craft a compromise that could draw bipartisan support apparently collapsed. Two months ago, reports began circulating that a compromise was possible if caps on non-economic and punitive damages were increased to $500,000. But, sources say, a final agreement could not be reached.

The Senate did not vote on a substitute malpractice bill that was developed by Sens. Richard Durbin, D-Ill., and Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., and which would have targeted the insurance industry. That legislation would repeal the industrys McCarran-Ferguson antitrust immunity for allegations of price-fixing, bid-rigging and market allocations relating to medical malpractice insurance.

Also, the Durbin-Graham bill would direct the Treasury Department to conduct a feasibility study on establishing a federal reinsurance fund to pay non-economic damages in med mal cases.

According to a summary of the bill, this fund would not only help insurers with accurate pricing, it would protect them from rising reinsurance costs.

The legislation would also establish an independent advisory commission to study the causes and scope of recent increases in med mal premiums, and make recommendations on ways to reduce them.

As for tort reform, the Durbin-Graham bill would require all plaintiffs attorneys to include an affidavit from a qualified health care professional on the nature of the injury and for the attorney to certify that the case is meritorious. Attorneys filing erroneous certifications would be subject to civil penalties.

It is uncertain whether the Durbin-Graham bill will come up now that S. 11 has been sidetracked.

Reproduced from National Underwriter Edition, July 14, 2003. Copyright 2003 by The National Underwriter Company in the serial publication. All rights reserved. Copyright in this article as an independent work may be held by the author.