Indiana vs. Kentucky on Med Mal Tort Reforms, Insurance Premiums, and Medical Costs
The Courier-Journal compares Indiana and Kentucky on medical malpractice tort reforms, insurance premiums, and medical costs. The gist:
Indiana is only one of six states that cap damages of all kinds – including lost wages and the cost of medical treatment – to victims of medical malpractice.
Though the figures are scheduled to rise over the next three years, for now, individual doctors and hospitals are only on the hook for $250,000, and the total award to plaintiffs is limited to $1.25 million.
Patients also must submit their claims to medical malpractice review panels, before they can sue and go to court. And punitive damages are limited to three times the actual damages to the plaintiff.
The result is cheaper medical malpractice insurance premiums for doctors in Indiana, which Michael Rinebold, director of government relations for the Indiana State Medical Association, said encourages doctors to locate there.
Figures collected from malpractice insurance brokers show that doctors pay about 25 percent less for insurance in Indiana than Kentucky.
But doctors in Kentucky pay out only slightly more in average claims per year than their counterparts in Indiana, according to the National Practitioner Data Bank. And consumers in the two states pay virtually the same amount per person on doctors and hospitals, according to the most recent data available.