MEDICAL MALPRACTICE INSURANCE; PHYSICIANS;

INSURANCE - MALPRACTICE;

You asked whether the Connecticut Medical Insurance Company (CMIC) has announced its malpractice insurance rates for 2004 yet.

We spoke with Emmanuel Zervos, Vice President and Chief Financial Office of CMIC. He indicated that CMIC has not finalized its rates for the coming policy year, which begins January 1. But he told us CMIC did a preliminary analysis last May. Based on this analysis, CMIC projected an average increase in the range of 25% to 35%. Zervos indicated nothing significant has changed since that projection was made and he anticipates an average increase of around 30% when the 2004 rates come out, which will probably be in late October.

CMIC is a physician-run non-profit mutual insurance company owned by its policyholders. It insures over 2,500 physicians in Connecticut. Two commercial insurers, ProSelect and Medical Protective, insure about 15% of the state’s physicians. Hospital captive insurance companies insure the remaining physicians.

CMIC implemented an overall 35% rate increase in 2003 for the one million/four million dollar policy, which is the most widely held policy. Following is a chart, which shows the actual rate increase for various classes of doctors from 2002 to 2003.

Table 1: Rate Changes For Each Medical Specialty for

$ 1 Million/$ 4 Million Claims Made Policy

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