Plaintiffs' attorneys are stepping up their attack on medical liability tort reforms in several states and having success with the rollback of legislation in Illinois and Georgia, overturning caps on noneconomic damages, or pain and suffering.

Caps allow medical professional liability insurers to set prices for coverage with a better degree of predictability. But without the caps on noneconomic damages, insurers writing in this market "will have to prepare for a possible return to excessive verdicts and settlements," according to the Insurance Information Institute. Such factors drove medical malpractice reform in Illinois in the first place in 2005, proponents said.

"Medical professional liability insurers are increasingly subjected to allegations of bad faith by opposing counsel, which has resulted in several large awards in excess of the policy limits of the insurer," according to Stephen M. Underdal, managing director and head of global health care for risk and reinsurance specialist Guy Carpenter & Company.