Malpractice coverage

[colchicine]

Starting a 1099 position in California soon and was wondering what ppl use for malpractice coverage...
It seems nobody gets occurence coverage in Cali...any reason why ?

So far, have looked at CAP MPT and Doctor's...
CAP MPT seems a lot cheaper long term...I'm not sure why ?
Can anyone help as I'm a little confused ?!?!

Thanks

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[imfrankie]

Starting a 1099 position in California soon and was wondering what ppl use for malpractice coverage...
It seems nobody gets occurence coverage in Cali...any reason why ?

So far, have looked at CAP MPT and Doctor's...
CAP MPT seems a lot cheaper long term...I'm not sure why ?
Can anyone help as I'm a little confused ?!?!

Thanks

I was with Doctor's and happy with it.

 

[gmbmd]

Starting a 1099 position in California soon and was wondering what ppl use for malpractice coverage...
It seems nobody gets occurence coverage in Cali...any reason why ?

So far, have looked at CAP MPT and Doctor's...
CAP MPT seems a lot cheaper long term...I'm not sure why ?
Can anyone help as I'm a little confused ?!?!

Thanks

By only accepting quality physicians with fewer claims, CAP is able to drastically keep costs down. I have been a CAP member for several years and can attest to the fact that it is a top-notch organization run by and for physicians.

 

[aneftp]

Just a word to the wise.

If you ever plan on leaving Cali to another state, I don't think one or both of those insurance plans are transferable to a state like New York.

My friend just left Cali and had to pay the tail (for about 3 years of coverage)...ended up costing him around $20K tail.

MedPro is national and if you ever leave Cali with a claims made policy, they will transfer it for you and you won't pay for the tail.

In this day an age, many physicians won't stay on the same job forever.

 

[colchicine]

Thanks

I actually just checked medpro and they're even cheaper than CAP.
With these rates, I'm even tempted to go for an occurrence policy !!!

I wonder why so few ppl go for an occurrence policy...it's a little pricier the first 5 years but it potentially saves you from a lot of Headaches ?!!?

I also wonder which ones of these are better once you do get a claim ??

 

[aneftp]

Thanks

I actually just checked medpro and they're even cheaper than CAP.
With these rates, I'm even tempted to go for an occurrence policy !!!

I wonder why so few ppl go for an occurrence policy...it's a little pricier the first 5 years but it potentially saves you from a lot of Headaches ?!!?

I also wonder which ones of these are better once you do get a claim ??

Because people think short term finances vs long term. I have always have occurrence policies.

The differences long term are very minimal especially when malpractice tail needs to be paid with claims made.

Some tails in anesthesia are almost $40k. While that's not the same as OB or Neurosurgery $200k plus tails, it's still a lot of money to consider.

People just see it's $5-6k for claims made the first year vs. 14-20k occurrence. But when you factor in the tail is usually 2-2.5 times the premiums for the claims" the difference is very little. Amd the headache you avoid should you ever choose to leave the job or the carrier isn't supported in another state.

 

[surgeon12345]

Starting a 1099 position in California soon and was wondering what ppl use for malpractice coverage...
It seems nobody gets occurence coverage in Cali...any reason why ?

So far, have looked at CAP MPT and Doctor's...
CAP MPT seems a lot cheaper long term...I'm not sure why ?
Can anyone help as I'm a little confused ?!?!

Thanks

First of all, bravo for doing this kind of research. I’m a current member of CAP - and have been for a few years. I have also been a former member of NorCal, and my wife who is also a physician has been a member of TDC (the doctors co) and now she is with CAP.

We have been extremely happy with CAP – I am covered as a general surgeon. They have been very supportive and quick in their responses if we need them for questions and requests. When my wife and I switched companies, we didn’t get stuck with a tail payment. My wife was with yet another malpractice carrier at the time that we switched (about 6-7 years ago).

CAP has been California only - however, you might want to call them and confirm to see if they are changing to cover other states that have Micra/insurance reform-type programs - these companies are always changing and perhaps hard to keep up with.

I am not familiar with other states that are covered by Norcal, The Doctor's company, and MedPro. I was not familiar with MedPro at all and I haven't heard of it till this discussion. But once I joined CAP, I stopped looking around - so my comparison points might be a little dated.

Regarding your question about which might be better to go with if you had a claim: consider looking at ratings from independent rating institutions such as AM-Best (credit ratings/financial strenghth. I think CAP ranks the highest. This fact gives me even more confidence to go with CAP (in addition to their lower rates as you mentioned). But I know you will do your research on this as you have with so many other aspects.

What I do know is that I and many other friends and family have been covered by CAP and we've been completely happy with their service. Even though they are "cheaper" as you mention, I have never felt that they skimped on service or quality of outcomes. In fact in many ways, I feel that I have received much more personalized attention from CAP.

Good luck to you! Welcome to California!