GAO Report On Medical Malpractice Excludes New Jersey

The New Jersey Law Journal reports this week that the federal General Accounting Office's (GAO) July 2003 report on the nation's medical malpractice insurance crisis failed to include any analysis of New Jersey insurance carriers, healthcare providers and laws. The report analyzed seven large states, but noticeably excluded New Jersey despite several one-day strikes here and a committed lobbying effort in Trenton to cap non-economic damages at $250,000 in med mal cases. Maybe the GAO's exclusion of New Jersey points to the inadequacy of the report itself? The findings are pretty much as expected, on the one hand pointing the finger at verdict sizes and on the other pointing to unanticipated premium adjustments. Maybe the state Insurance Commission's upcoming hearings on Princeton Insurance Co. decision to stop writing new policies on physicians by the end of August will shed some more light on this issue.