Med Mal Caps - Who pays the price? Gainesville Medical Malpractice Lawyer Explains the Expense

Who pays the price of capping med mal awards? As an experienced Gainesville medical malpractice lawyer I say, the victims of medical practice do so the insurance companies can get richer!

Florida doctors and physicians praise the cap law for finally bringing some stability to the "malpractice crisis."  In some ways they are correct.  Since the law took effect in 2003, Florida malpractice premiums have remained relatively steady at around $100,000-$150,000 dollars annually.  Consequently, doctors have not evacuated Florida in droves to practice in other states, but, who pays the price?

The so-called stability, however, comes at a group's expenses-not the doctors or insurance carriers but the medical malpractice plaintiffs (victims).  The cap law limits liability for pain and suffering to $500,000 per doctor.  A medical malpractice injury award for $10 million dollars in 2002 or before cannot by law now exceed $500,000.  The exact same case with the exact same injuries but $9.5 million dollars less, all because of the cap law.

It is a fairly simple economic equation, actually: smaller non-economic damages awards equate to saving the insurance carriers hundreds of millions of dollars, which in turn equates to keeping malpractice premiums low.  In other words, injured plaintiffs take the economic hit to resolve an issue between doctors and insurance carriers. 

While the cap law equation may be fairly simple, the cap law itself is far from fair.  
 

For more information:

Caps on Medical Malpractice Helpful?  Ocala Medical Malpractice Lawyer Gives Opinion.

What Does Capping in a Medical Malpractice Case Mean?