New York Times, "False Diagnosis: State Tort Systems Not Responsible for Insurance Premium Increases"

Medical malpractice litigation reform is a high priority for President Bush, who contends that juries are running amok, multimillion-dollar settlements are on the rise and greedy trial lawyers are filing frivolous suits. The results, Mr. Bush and others argue, include skyrocketing insurance prices, abandoned medical practices, defensive medicine and a crisis of access to care. Their proposed solution: caps on jury awards to patients and on lawyers' contingent fees.

No one disputes that insurance premiums have risen significantly. The question is whether a crisis in states' tort systems account for the increase. Consider Mr. Bush's home state of Texas, America's second most populous state and the third largest in terms of total health care spending. After studying a database maintained by the Texas Department of Insurance that contains all insured malpractice claims resolved between 1988 and 2002, we saw no evidence of a tort crisis. The total cost of large malpractice claims was both stable and a small fraction (less than 1 percent) of total health care expenditures in Texas.

In short, as far as medical malpractice cases are concerned, for 15 years the Texas tort system has been remarkably stable. Texas' situation is not unique. Malpractice premiums have risen sharply in Texas and many other states. But, at least in Texas, the sharp spikes in insurance prices reflect forces operating outside the tort system.