Claims of a medical malpractice crisis stem in large part from recent increases in malpractice insurance rates, with premiums for some individual doctors set in the hundreds of thousands of dollars a year. Most doctors, actuaries, and insurance officials attribute these costs to the lack of caps on liability awards. Some trial lawyer organizations and politicians claim that the rise in insurance rates are unrelated to the expenses of defending and paying malpractice claims, and that caps will not affect insurance prices. Many states have instituted various types of liability reform. What effect have these reforms had on medical malpractice insurance premiums? Are rising defense costs for malpractice cases part of the problem, and, if so, how have insurance companies responded?

Three recent studies on these questions will be presented at this event: “Tort Law and Medical Malpractice Insurance Premiums” coauthored by Meredith Kilgore and Michael Morrisey, “An Economic Assessment of Damage Caps in Medical Malpractice Litigation Imposed by State Laws and the Implications for Federal Policy and Law” coauthored by H. E. Frech III, and “Defense Costs in Medical Malpractice and Other Personal Injury Cases: Evidence from Texas, 1988-2004” coauthored by David Hyman. Following the presentations, panelists Randall Bovbjerg and Jonathan Klick will discuss the public policy implications of those studies. Ted Frank, director of AEI’s Liability Project, will moderate.