The worst states for malpractice insurance are Florida, Michigan, Pennsylvania, DC, Nevada, West Virginia, Mass, Illinois, and New York. In some of these states the cost of medical malpractice is up to $200,000/year. The states with reform (and obviously the states that are better to practice in) are California, North Dakota, South Carolina, Arkansas and Minnesota. The states that do not have reform have doctors fleeing them like a sinking ship.
Actually it varies greatly by state and what the overall economic climate is. In Illinois the average cost for a general practitioner is $40K a year, while an OB/GYN can range up to $150K a year.
Remember, these costs are business expenses, and tax write offs, for physicians. In addition remember that the average salary of a general practitioner is $500K a year. Plus these costs are mitigated by the move of physicians to physicians practice groups, where several doctors take on the expense of the insurance.
As for the first comment, the states mentioned that are alluded to that do NOT have reform (Florida, Michigan, Pennsylvania, DC, Nevada, West Virginia, Mass, Illinois, and New York), all but New York DO have medical malpractice caps. There has been little correlation, and no causation, found between medical malpractice insurance cost, health insurance cost and the number or value of rewards in medical malpractice suits.
Check out the Robert Wood Johnson foundation website for research on the topic.
