Patients set to bear the brunt of rising cast of insurance

Hong Kong: The Medical Protection Society, which offers professional indemnity insurance to most doctors, expects that insurance subscription rates next year will increase from 3 to 30%.

The biggest rise - about 30% - will hit the private sector: obstetricians and doctors in high-risk specialties such as neurosurgery and spinal surgery. The society said the increase for next year was due to an increase in claims by an average 20%. The largest claim paid last year was HKD27m (USD3,463,359). There were also a number of large claims awaiting settlement, including one estimated at HKD45m (USD5,772,265).

The president of the Medical Association predicted that private doctors will pass on some of the higher costs due to their soaring professional indemnity insurance costs as well as due to increasing rents for their clinics and inflation.

A Medical Association council member said that it was natural for the number of disputes and claims to increase because of a global trend of higher awareness of patients' rights. In consequence, some specialists in obstetrics and gynecology might consider only practising gynecological treatments and stopping their delivery services.

Source: South China Morning Post, 19 October 2007
Asian Casualty Report 10th Edition June 2008 – Gen Re