Insurance reform ‘high priority’
(
excuse me while I go throw up) :puke:
By TIM HOOVER
The Kansas City Star
JEFFERSON CITY — While Missouri lawmakers this year approved new limits on medical malpractice lawsuits, they failed to pass legislation many doctors said also was needed to reduce malpractice premiums.
The failed bill would have imposed new regulations on medical malpractice insurers, requiring them to give 60 days’ notice before dropping a doctor’s coverage or increasing premiums more than 25 percent and 180 days’ notice before pulling out of the malpractice underwriting market. More important, the bill would have given state regulators the right to reject rate increases 30 percent or more above market rates.
Rep. Richard Byrd, a St. Louis County Republican, sponsored the bill and also was the author of the measure that imposed new limits on medical malpractice lawsuits and other personal injury claims. Byrd championed new limits on lawsuits as the most important way to help doctors get relief from soaring malpractice premiums, but he also said regulation of the insurance industry was a necessary companion to that effort.
Byrd, 46, died of a heart attack Saturday at his home.
http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/news/local/11690897.htm
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