Growing concerns about the New York Medical Malpractice Insurance market

Our partner, New York Medical Malpractice Lawyer Jeffrey Bloom was quoted in an article about medical malpractice insurance in NY which appeared on Politico New York/Capital New York.com. The article focused on the influx into the New York medical malpractice insurance market of out of state insurers known as risk retention groups. While New York’s carriers are more expensive, they are safer than out of state insurers because they pay into a guaranty fund that acts as a safety net.  If one of them is in trouble and goes belly up, the costs are passed along to the other insurers of the State. Out of state companies also known as Risk Retention Groups (RRGs) do not pay into this guaranty fund. This is one of the reasons why they can offer cheaper rates to physicians than New York insurers.  RRGs are regulated by their home state and not by New York Sate. If a RRG goes under,  in some cases physicians maybe exposed and personally liable for malpractice claims. Because New York can’t regulate these funds it weakens the state’s safety net. Additionally the recent turmoil of Physicians’ Reciprocal Insurers, or PRI, the second largest carrier in the state, is further undermining the market.  Jeff pointed out that the New York  medical malpractice market is not only quite stable but obviously viewed as a potentially  quite profitable market by medical malpractice insurers nationwide.

In addition to trying and managing medical malpractice cases, Jeffrey Bloom is the Co-chair of the Medical Malpractice Committee of the New York State Trial Lawyers Association as well as the Co-Chair of LAWPAC New York, the Trial Lawyers political action committee. In these roles, he works to protect the rights of victims of medical malpractice in Albany with the Legislature and State government.