Are medical malpractice payments “skyrocketing”?
Analysis of medical malpractice payments demonstrates that the amount paid remained surprisingly stable during the 1990s. The average payment for all claims closed was about $30,000 and the average payment considering only those claims closed with a payment was about $112,183. (7) Year Average Payment for All Claims Closed Average Payment for Claims Closed with payment 1991 $29,093 $100,172 1992 $28,731 $105,219 1993 $28,519 $104,751 1994 $29,826 $118,682 1995 $31,127 $124,978 1996 $29,504 $119,296 It is worth noting that this 19% increase in the claims closed with payment category is modest when compared to the corresponding 34.9% increase in health care inflation from 1991 to 1996.(8) A claim settled for $100,172 in 1991 was worth $128,207 in 1996. Are medical malpractice insurance premiums gobbling-up an ever increasing share of the national health care dollar? Historically, the cost of medical malpractice insurance premiums has represented less than one-penny of every dollar spent
