Your reporting on medical malpractice reform efforts often refers to the fact that the American Medical Association considers California's meager $250,000 cap on noneconomic damages as the ''gold standard'' for proposed federal and state regulation. The California law, the AMA maintains, has resulted in lower increases in insurance premiums there.
We disagree. The real reason that California's insurance rates have risen at a slower rate than elsewhere in the country is that California has the strongest insurance regulation in the country: Proposition 103, enacted by voter initiative in 1988. As a result of Prop. 103, which requires public hearings whenever an insurer files a rate hike greater than 15%, rates have been knocked way down in that state, saving California doctors millions of dollars.
California is the only state that has such comprehensive insurance regulation and it is this type of insurance reform that should be the model for Maryland and the rest of the country.
Laurie Beacham
Communications Director
Center for Justice and Democracy
The Center for Justice & Democracy is the only national consumer organization in the country exclusively dedicated to protecting our civil justice system. If you'd like more information, please contact us.
