New York physicians, unless they have been on sabbatical, are aware of the rate increases from the admitted carriers writing malpractice insurance coverage in New York. With a few deviances for some specialties, the New York admitted carriers, such as Physicians’ Reciprocal Insurers and Medical Liability Mutual Insurance Company, increased their rates approximately 4% effective July 1, 2012.
This does not come as a big surprise to most. Also, this increase most likely is not detrimental to the success of most practices currently insured with either of the two main carriers. Actually, the expected increase brings a reprieve to the established medical community. Practitioners will gain some liberation in being able to once again focus their concerns on more important matters such as their patients.
With that said there is one significant matter which remains unresolved for the practitioner entering practice for the first time in New York or has entered after June 13, 2010 –availability, or lack of availability, to excess coverage provided by the Hospital Excess Liability Pool. In short, unless a practitioner has applied for and received excess coverage from the State of New York for the last three years consistently, he or she is not guaranteed excess coverage through the Hospital Excess Liability Pool this year effective June 13, 2012. The key word here is “guaranteed” excess coverage. The good news is that the practitioner may still obtain excess coverage if the hospital, for which they are applying for excess coverage, has fewer applications than they had in June 13, 2010. Currently, hospitals are limited to the number of excess policies they can issue based on the number of policies that particular hospital had issued in 2013.
Call a medical malpractice insurance specialist for clarification regarding this subject at 800.457.7790.
If you are interested in obtaining coverage with Diederich Healthcare, please complete our quick quote form.
To contact the author, call 800-457-7790 and ask for Matt Thompson.