5 Comments to “What is the deal about doctors having insurance?”

1. Steve D says:

   March 21, 2010 at 9:09 am

   Yes, doctors have to carry malpractice insurance. The premiums vary depending upon the doctor’s specialty with OB-GYN and Anesthesiologists being charged quite high premiums (sometimes hundreds of thousands of dollars a year) as these professions tend to have more claims.
2. Insurancetips says:

   March 24, 2010 at 5:44 pm

   This is also called the Professional Liability insurance. They need to have this insurance to protect themselves in-case of any error that happens or any negligence that is committed. If you open up a medical journal or look into the news- you would know that the cases of liability filled against the doctors are very high. The awards given by the Courts for settlement of these claims is also very high. There are constantly cases of reactions or prescription of the wrong medicines for one.

   The rate for this would also depend upon the state in which they practice since each state has different norms, secondly it would depend upon the doctor’s specialization – surgeons and plastic surgeons pay the highest since the liability against them can be very high because of any error on their part. There are only certain companies which offer this coverage : Aviva Chubb to name a few.
3. mbrcatz says:

   March 27, 2010 at 7:03 am

   You’re talking about medical malpractice insurance.

   There’s no law that says a doctor has to carry it, but no hospital will let a doctor work there, unless they have it.

   How much they pay, depends on a HUGE variety of factors. For MEDICAL doctors, I’ve never seen a premium under $15,000, and that’s only for the low risk, family doctor, no surgery in office type doctors. For high risk practices like obstetrics, or neural surgery, it can EASILY cost more than $100,000. A YEAR.
4. Not I says:

   March 28, 2010 at 10:27 am

   Not just doctors but the nurses also.
5. Insurance Pickle.com says:

   March 30, 2010 at 2:46 pm

   Alot of doctors stop the OB part of the OB/GYN practice because a six figure insurance isn’t uncommon. SO, if doctors couldn’t be sued for astronomical amounts, then their insurance wouldn’t be so expensive, they could charge less for their services, and we’d pay and the insurance company would pay less.