Medical Liability Insurance Climate in Chicago
Produced exclusively for MyMedicalMalpracticeInsurance.com by the Medical Liability Monitor.The Monitor is the only independent source of consistent, reliable coverage and fresh perspectives on medical professional liability insurance and risk management.
1. Chicago’s Cook County has consistently ranked as one of the worst tort climates in the nation. As such, it ranks in the “top five” most expensive counties to purchase medical liability insurance coverage in America.
2. More than a dozen insurers currently write medical liability coverage in the Chicagoland area. The five companies with the largest market share include: ISMIE Mutual Insurance, American Physicians Assurance Corp., Medical Protective, Lexington Insurance and ProAssurance Corp.
3. Mature, claims-made-coverage base-rate premiums in the Chicagoland area range from $33,305 to $41,066 for Internal Medicine; $92,067 to $127,083 for General Surgery; and $127,083 to $178,291 for OB/Gyns.
4. Currently, the Cook County medical liability market is dominated by Chicago-based ISMIE Mutual, which controls almost two-thirds of the physicians’ coverage in the state of Illinois. ISMIE is an affiliate of the Illinois State Medical Society.
5. The constitutionality of 2005 tort reforms that capped non-economic damages at $500,000 for individual physicians and $1 million for hospitals is currently under appeal in the Illinois Supreme Court.
