E&S/Specialty

The new federal Affordable Care Act could potentially have a positive effect on medical malpractice liability, actuaries were told at a recent Casualty Actuarial Society seminar on reinsurance.

Medical professional liability insurers are at a sweet spot in their underwriting cycle. For insurers, it's a place where loss ratios are low, capital is plentiful--and in this case premiums, though under pressure, are only slightly off their peak.

"Coverholder business has become an absolute priority for Lloyd's," according to Adam Stafford, senior project manager of market operations for Lloyd's.

Premiums written by the U.S. excess and surplus lines market fell nearly 5 percent to $11.5 billion in the first-half of 2010, according to a report prepared by Highline Data exclusively for National Underwriter.

Medical professional liability insurers are at a sweet spot in their underwriting cycle. For insurers, it's a place where loss ratios are low, capital is plentiful--and in this case premiums, though under pressure, are only slightly off their peak.

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.