Study: Insurers are overcharging doctors

ST. LOUIS, July 8 (UPI) -- Insurers are overcharging physicians for malpractice premiums, Missouri's former top insurance regulator said.

Jay Angoff, an attorney who was Missouri insurance commissioner from 1993 to 1998, studies 15 of the largest U.S. malpractice insurers. He found the insurers paid out just 30 cents of every dollar that doctors paid in premiums last year, reported the St. Louis Post-Dispatch Friday.

"That is shockingly low," said Angoff.

Insurers said studies like Angoff's often don't take into account estimated future claims, However, Angoff said his study found insurers paid out 40 cents of every dollar that they expected to pay out in the future.