False Accounting: How Medical Malpractice Insurance Companies Inflate Losses to Justify Sudden Surges in Rates and Tort Reform

In this study, the Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights (FTCR) reviews the loss projections of medical malpractice^{[Related: Medical Malpractice Story L…][Related: Medical Malpractice Story L…]} insurance^{[Related: Hold Health Insurance Indus…][Related: How Health Insurance Rate R…][Related: Hold Health Insurance Indus…][Related: How Health Insurance Rate R…]} companies, beginning with the ‘insurance crisis’ of the mid-1980s. The data show that medical malpractice insurers have historically inflated their loss projections and then revised their reported losses downward in subsequent years. The ‘incurred losses’ that medical malpractice insurance companies initially reported for policies in effect in each of the years examined were, on average, 46% higher than the amount the insurers actually paid out on those policies.