Premiums increased about 27 percent starting in 2019, and about 30 percent in 2020 and 2021, respectively. The AMA says a similar increase has not been recorded in nearly 20 years, and remained mostly stable from 2010 to 2018.
”The medical liability insurance cycle is in a period of increasing premiums, compounding the economic woes for medical practices that struggled during the past two years of the pandemic,” said AMA president Gerald E. Harmon, MD. ”The increase in premiums can force physicians to close their practices or drop vital services. This is detrimental to patients as higher medical costs can lead to reduced access to care.”
These states saw the largest proportion of premiums go up 10 percent or more:
Illinois – 58.9%
West Virginia – 41.7%
Missouri – 29.6%
Oregon – 20%
South Carolina – 16.7%
Idaho – 11.1%
Kentucky – 7.4%
Delaware – 6.7%
Washington – 6.7%
Michigan – 5.4%
Texas – 4.9%
Georgia – 3.7%
Though the rise in premiums coincided with the timeline of the COVID-19 pandemic, the AMA report says that ”the long-term effect of the pandemic is still unknown.”
Base premiums have not seen the same rise.
