Ontario leads charge against rising CMPA premiums

Ontario's health minister is leading a charge against a 20% increase in medical insurance premiums announced by the Canadian Medical Protective Association (CMPA). In a news release, Jim Wilson said he has asked his provincial counterparts to work with medical associations in seeking a holiday from large premium increases. "It will take more than the Ontario government to get the CMPA to reduce rates," he said. "Physicians and their associations need to join this cause as well. There is strength in numbers."

Wilson said the 20% hike in premiums was announced even though the CMPA has a $1-billion reserve fund and its largest annual payout for damages has been $63 million. Wilson, who recently announced that the Ontario government would no longer subsidize malpractice insurance premiums, said that "as long as government paid most of the bill, the CMPA did not need to be directly accountable to physicians." He said it will only respond to lower rates when medical associations across Canada "start demanding a review of the rates."

| CMAJ February 1, 1996 (vol 154, no 3) |