This is a subject I know something about. Maybe I don't know diddly about what a REAL Cobra is but I do know something about litigation and the insurance industry.
I can tell you that at least in my state only about 6% to 10% of every premium dollar goes to the liability end of the premium dollar. The bulk of the premium dollar goes to medical payments and property damage. Most people don't know that. Did you? Nor does the insurance industry make that well known for obvious reasons. It hurts the lawsuit blame game.
I can tell you that the insurance industry has been on a nation wide campaign to limit peoples access to the court system for years. Makes sense. If they limit access their profits increase. Don't blame them except they are by and large full of $hit.
The insurance industry loves to bash lawyers. Why. People love to hate lawyers. Of course till they need one. They blame the "high insurance premiums on "frivilous" lawsuits. This has been their mantra for years. Same old storey. Its bull$hit but it works.
I cannot say there are not frivilous lawsuits. There have been and there are. They are by far and I mean by far a very small percentage of the cases on the docket. They are usually disposed of quickly. There is no real incentive for lawyers to get involved with frivilous lawsuits. When the fee is on a contingency basis it means they will probably not get a recovery and therefore no fee. If the case is to be an hourly case, most clients would be nuts to pay counsel fees on a very weak case. Thirdly, there are frivilous lawsuit statutes in most states that are invoked to sanction such suits.
But everyone loves to say "frivilous" this and that.
The press loves to publish the information on the occassional ridiculous case such as the most recent McDonalds case where the plaintff brought suit because he claimed McD's made him fat. I cringed when I heard of that case. It was thrown out and should have been. Such silly cases are not the norm by far. But its what the public hears about so they think its the norm.
The insurance industry loves to blame "high" premiums on "frivilous" suits and "crazy" jury awards. The fact of the matter is insurance premiums are regulated by our state and statiscally is a result of the fact we live in the most densely populated part of the country with the most cars on the road per square mile.
Auto insurance premiums have gone up over the years but percentage wise not much more than other things. The insurance companies claim they are always losing money. Yet they make profits in the millions each year. When was the last time you saw an insurance company operating out of a two storey walkup. Their office buildings are usually monuments to themselves. They pay for t.v ads. costing millions. Many of the companies that cry the most are worth billions.
They control healthcare now and next they want to control your access to the courts which they have accomplished to a great degree. Their ultimate goal is to elimate access to the court by the injured and continue to force people to buy insurance. Great gig if you can work it out.
In 1988 N.J passed its Verbal threshold statute limiting the right to bring an action for injury resulting in a auto accident. The insurance companies said give us the verbal threshold and premiums will drop and the number of injury recoveries will drop. They lobbied for it and carried on for it. They got it. The number of injury claims definitely did drop. Check the statistics. So did the awards. The only thing that didn't drop were the premiums. They went up.
In 1998 the insurance industry again whipped up another insurance "crisis". They wanted a new thershold. They said it would reduce the number of claims and drop premiums. They got it. The number of cases dropped again. Even more people were told that there injuries weren't "serious" enough to meet the standard. Only problem was premiums continued to go up and even worse insurance companies utilizing "care paths" for treatment started cutting people off from treatment with their doctors claiming their treatment exceeded the care path allotment. Premiums went up. Not down.
The insurance industry is at it again in N.J. This time with a Medical Malpractice crisis. Fact. The insurance companies again have manufactured this crissis and pitched doctors against lawyer. They clean up the spoils. Very clever.
Fact. The insurance industry has raised premiums each time the economy has taken a down turn. They look to make up the drop in their investment return or losses by squeezing the customer. They got hammered in recent years from hurricane losses and 9/11 so John Q public or the doctors as the case may be get squeezed. The customer is a ready and available source to make up the loss. They then turn and say "blame the lawyers, if there weren't so many lawsuits we could drop your premiums". Same BS everytime. But instead of most people saying "prove it" they as usual grab their pitch forks and storm the legal castle without really trying to figure out if they have been given the correct information.
It is very, very difficult to pursue a med mal claim. Beyond being very difficult it is very expensive. Experts and cost of litigation for the plaintiff many times end up being thousands of dollars. The insurance industry also defends these cases very aggressively Many take a no pay position except on the most obvious of cases.
Fact. The number of malpractice cases have dropped in recent years. Fact. The amount paid out by insurance companies have only increased 2% over the recent couple years. Why then are premiums being raised so drasically? Hmmm. Something stinks.
Fact. 6 percent of the doctors account of 60% of the claims. Maybe the problem is not really with the lawyers. Maybe some blame needs to be laid at the feet of bad medicine. No? Maybe the medical review boards ought to stop protecting the bad doctors and bounce them? No?
Fact. Before you can pursue a case of med mal a doctor must sign an affitdavit of merit saying he has review the record and there is grounds for a malpractice claim.
Further, lawyers don't make the awards. Judges don't make the awards. Juries do. People like you and me after hearing all the evidence. They award what they feel is just and fair.
Moreover, doctors many times have a say in whether a case settles. Many times they tell the carrier don't settle. The carrier continues to pay defense costs in many cases that should be settled. When it goes bad for them after the trial the insurance companays whine and cry about the millions that are awarded to plaintiffs and that they win lotteries with jury awards. If they don't like the awards then maybe they should approach settlement a little differently. The jury thought the claim had merit.
Insurance companies love to blame the "high premiums" on the lawyers and the awards given to "greedy" plainiffs. By and large thats a crock of $hit. But the public loves it. But tell it to the family members of a loved one who have been seriously injuried or crippled due to malpractice as found by a jury. In most medical malpractice cases the damages and injuries are significant. Its easy for people to talk when its not them or their loved one.
You want to limit access to the courts for people. Go ahead. Because in the end you may be limiting it for yourself one day or someone in your family. You want caps on recovery. Now you do. But when its you or someone in your family your gonna feel a whole lot different. I'd be willing to bet on that one.
Whine and complain about the cost of a replica being $1000 more if the manufacturer has to pay for liabilty insurance. Feel sorry for them. Thats OK. But if the day ever comes where a component on that car fails due to a defect in manufacture or design and you or a loved one is hurt and your access is the courthouse is limited or eliminated and I will definitely tell you I told you so.
Make no mistake. While its true personal injury attorneys make a living at representing injured people and advocating their interests so you can say they have an axe to grind, that axe is swinging in your favor when its you thats been hurt, killed or maimed or a family member. The axe of the insurance industry has only on interest in mind. Cutting out or limiiting your rights to the court house.
It important to know the facts.
