All of us want relief for doctors in our state from ever-increasing malpractice premiums. A coalition of big business interests – including the insurance, drug and tobacco industries – claims to have the answer. They’ve proposed a collection of far-reaching changes to our state laws and Constitution that would create special legal protections for healthcare professionals and hospitals that cause preventable, life-threatening injuries, as well as for companies that sell defective products, for government agencies that are negligent, and for companies like Olympic Pipeline that ignore safety guidelines.

What the coalition doesn’t mention, however, is that in every other state where this kind of legislation has been passed, insurance premiums have continued to rise. Capping damages and making it harder for injured patients to seek justice doesn’t benefit anyone but insurance companies. Doctors and hospitals don’t get any relief, and patients ultimately bear the burden.

Insurance companies – which aren’t regulated and can raise rates for any reason or no reason – are clouding the issue by blaming rising premiums on lawsuits by patients injured by substandard medical care. Yet in Kitsap County there has only been one jury verdict against a doctor for medical malpractice over the past seven years.

Rather than supporting initiatives that would make healthcare safer for patients or increase government and insurance payments to doctors during times of premium increases, the big business lobby wants to create a new class of individuals and institutions with special rights. If any of their proposed bills pass, healthcare providers and institutions would have carte blanche to act carelessly in a wide range of situations, without ever having to take any responsibility for their actions or the harm they cause.
   This sends exactly the wrong message to the healthcare industry about the need to prevent the hundreds of thousands of injuries or deaths that occur every year as a result of medical negligence.

By pointing the finger at injured patients, insurance companies distract attention from the real reason premiums have gone up. It’s time to take a look at the story behind the business lobby’s demands.

Over the past few years, insurers have made bad investment choices. They spent their reserves instead of banking them against a time when returns wouldn’t be so rosy. Stocks dropped, insurers raised premiums and started blaming their financial losses on everyone else – on the justice system, on juries, and especially on people who are victims of preventable medical injuries. Now insurance companies insist that medical malpractice claims are responsible for driving premiums through the roof.

All the data is clear that premium rates are driven by the state of the economy – lower in good times and higher in bad. If insurance companies underwrote responsibly, they could level out the peaks and valleys and avoid the need for dramatic rate increases.

And because the economy is cyclical, it’s now swinging back to a more positive position. That means premiums should soon level out whether the legislature changes the laws or not.

Meanwhile, the business lobbyists, supported by some of the biggest money in politics, say they will force lawmakers to choose between giving in to corporate demands and representing the people of their districts. Any legislator with the courage to stand up for the rights of injured victims is being threatened with defeat at the polls next November. That’s just plain wrong.

Only the insurance companies themselves can stop the cycle of rising premiums, by accepting responsibility for poor past choices and committing to making sounder investment decisions in the future.

(Editor’s Note: Bill Broughton is a Silverdale attorney whose practice covers a broad range of commercial, real estate, municipal and personal injury law. He is the former Bremerton City Attorney and a former Deputy Prosecuting Attorney.)