Harvey Rosenfield Quotes on Medicine & Medical (2 Quotes)

By inflating their estimated 'losses' as much as 66 percent, medical malpractice insurance companies have misled regulators, lawmakers and the public and overcharged physicians and other health care providers. Because all insurance companies use the same flawed accounting practices, it is likely that the insurance industry is responsible for several billion dollars in premium overcharges over the last few years, a period during which premiums have soared. The nation's economic stability and security demands that the insurance industry's accounting practices be investigated, and reforms put in place such as those that were made after widespread financial fraud was uncovered at Enron, WorldCom, Arthur Andersen and other corporations.

The study shows that malpractice insurance companies consistently overstate how much they expect to pay in claims and in amounts far beyond the margin of reasonable error. By manipulating their books to misrepresent their 'losses,' the insurers have profited in two ways. First, they have used the inflated numbers to justify rate increases that were unnecessary and excessive. Second, they have invoked their exaggerated loss estimates to promote legislation allowing these insurers to limit how much compensation they have to pay out to victims of medical negligence.