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Largest provider of malpractice insurance to leave Wyoming
Hundreds of Wyoming doctors will have to find new medical malpractice insurance after the state’s largest provider of the coverage decided to pull out of the state.
The news about OHIC Insurance Co.’s withdrawal comes after state lawmakers rejected major tort reform plans in the just-completed legislative session.
Associated Press
However, OHIC’s decision had nothing to do with the Legislature’s inaction on proposed tort reform bills, said Garth Boreczky, an owner and partner with the Cheyenne-based Ed Murray & Sons, which was once the fifth-largest OHIC agent in the nation.
"This decision was a business decision, not a political decision," Boreczky said.
The company’s decision to stop writing policies after August leaves three companies providing liability coverage to Wyoming doctors and hospitals.
OHIC, the Wyoming Insurance Commission, and the Wyoming Medical Society will do all they can to make sure that the 381 doctors and seven hospitals now covered by OHIC will not lose medical malpractice insurance coverage, their representatives said Monday.
"It’s not like anyone is going to be left out in the cold," Boreczky said. "It is a smooth transition as transitions go."
OHIC also is withdrawing from six other states to concentrate on its core business in Ohio.
The Wyoming Legislature adjourned Friday. But Boreczky speculated OHIC made its decision to pull out of the state before the legislative session began Feb. 9.
During the session, lawmakers failed to get the two-thirds majority in the Senate and the House to move along a proposed amendment to the Wyoming Constitution to allow the Legislature to set limits, or "caps," on noneconomic "pain and suffering" damages awarded in medical malpractice trials.
Doctors pressed for caps, saying that medical malpractice insurers have drastically raised their premiums in recent years to the point that some physicians are considering restricting their practices, retiring early or leaving the state.
Caps on noneconomic damages would help stem the rise in rates, according to doctors, hospitals, and insurance companies.
Trial lawyers opposed the proposed constitutional amendment, saying that Wyoming juries don’t award large noneconomic damage amounts, and that allegedly injured parties should have the right to have a jury decide the scope and amount of damages.
OHIC provides medical malpractice insurance to 43 percent of the doctors in Wyoming, and the Doctors Co. serves another 31 percent, state Insurance Commissioner Ken Vines said.
The Utah Medical Insurance Association and Medical Protective, which only recently began operating in Wyoming, also offer medical malpractice insurance, Vines said.
Wendy Curran, director of the Wyoming Medical Society, said while UHIC’s decision was not based on the Legislature’s failure to promote tort reform, that inaction makes Wyoming a tough sell to insurance companies in general.
"We don’t have anything to offer," Curran said. "The message of the Legislature is, ‘we’re not interested in doing anything.’ "
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