Svetlana, there was an article in hmm.... i think general surgery news ( about the premiums) i don't know about the payouts.
But if you have other links i will check it out.

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Человек, который почувствовал ветер перемен, должен построить не щит от ветра, а ветряную мельницу

here is another one specifically about Texas
***********.ama-assn.org/amednews/2008/09/15/edsa0915.htm
there are tons more by trial lawyers that discredit the claims, but that's understandable..(ch)

oh, did I post the same link? (md) :-D
***********.ama-assn.org/amednews/2008/03/03/prsa0303.htm

Hmm.. maybe i was wrong, or misread the study.
I still think that cap is a marginal measure ( like a patch ) where a permanent solution could be so much more elegant.
also another possibility is having "loser pays" clause for tort cases.

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Человек, который почувствовал ветер перемен, должен построить не щит от ветра, а ветряную мельницу

Just an example : an orthopedic surgeon in California pays $30,000 in malpractice insurance. His colleague in Pennsylvania pays around $150,000.
What's the difference?
The cap on pain and suffering the biggest drive for frivolous lawsuits.

***********.centerjd.org/air/TrueRiskF.pdf
here is the study..
look at the tables towards the end, where they compare malpractice insurance cost changes in states that had reforms vs not.
the difference seems to be - insurance companies make more money in tort reform states, but don't lower the rates.

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Человек, который почувствовал ветер перемен, должен построить не щит от ветра, а ветряную мельницу

come on! we are not that naive..who is behind it? (ch)I bet it's mostly lawyers...if the premiums didn't go down along with the lawsuites, docs would not be supporting the Tort Reform...some of the stories in the study are so..hmm..hard to believe..

the idea behind the Tort Reform is to stop the frivilous lawsuits, and when lawyers are not motivated by huge profits, they stop soliciting their services and putting ideas into peoples' heads..

we have a lot of MDs here in Floridawho are self-insured, no liability coverage..I bet lwayers don't like it either...tough luck..

i don't care what the conclusions portion says.. but the data tables are there too..
well.. we will be shopping for insurance in 2 years, so i will let u know what is up

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Человек, который почувствовал ветер перемен, должен построить не щит от ветра, а ветряную мельницу

tell me this...what's wrong with deciding as a society (state..whatever) on limits on pinitive damages or pain and suffering? To pass a tort reform, it gets approved by the entire state (like a contitutional amendment), is it better than to have only 12 jurors to decide it? we are not talking about economical damages..

again, the biggest problem (IMHO) is not how much people get awarded, but how scared the MDs are to get sued.
by limiting awards you just giving lawyers a paycut.. which i am all for , but the point is to discourage bad lawsuites.

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Человек, который почувствовал ветер перемен, должен построить не щит от ветра, а ветряную мельницу