LOCAL COLUMN
OPINION: New Mexico doctors and patients are being held hostage by insurance profits 鈥� not lawsuits
For years, a familiar ghost has been used to haunt the halls of the Roundhouse in Santa Fe: 鈥渓itigation crisis.鈥� We are told that greedy trial lawyers and runaway juries are driving doctors out of New Mexico and forcing medical malpractice premiums into the stratosphere.
But according to the American Medical Association鈥檚 latest data, that ghost doesn鈥檛 exist. 2024 data from the National Practitioners Data Bank paints a different picture.
New Mexico ranks 15th nationally in total medical malpractice lawsuit compensation for victims.
New Mexico ranks 25th nationally in average medical malpractice lawsuit compensation for victims.
New research from the AMA and reports from MedPage Today reveal a startling reality that contradicts the insurance industry鈥檚 favorite talking points. The truth is that medical malpractice claims are actually declining, yet insurance premiums are skyrocketing.
According to the AMA, the percentage of physicians sued for malpractice in 2024 fell from 2.3% to 1.8%, yet medical malpractice insurance rates more than tripled nationally.
The AMA鈥檚 2024鈥�25 reports highlight a trend the insurance lobby would rather you ignore. Claim frequency against physicians has fallen significantly over the last decade.
In 2024, less than a third of physicians (28.7%) reported having been sued during their careers, which is a notable drop from 34% in 2016.
Furthermore, the majority of these cases, nearly 65%, are dropped, dismissed, or settled without any finding of fault. The litigation explosion is a myth. New Mexico鈥檚 legal system is not being overrun; if anything, the toll the AMA speaks of is the burden of an administrative and insurance system that refuses to acknowledge these declining risks.
Despite fewer claims, the AMA reports that medical liability premiums have increased nationwide for the seventh consecutive year. This is the most prolonged upward trend since the early 2000s. In 2025 alone, nearly 40% of all premiums rose year-over-year.
If the number of lawsuits is going down, why are our doctors being squeezed for every cent they鈥檝e earned? The answer is simple, if uncomfortable: The multibillion-dollar insurance industry is manufacturing a crisis to protect record profits, and they are doing it off the backs of New Mexico鈥檚 medical practitioners.
In New Mexico, we see this play out in our rural clinics and specialty practices. When the risk (lawsuits) goes down and the price (premiums) goes up, the difference doesn鈥檛 vanish into thin air. It goes into the pockets of insurance company shareholders.
And then earlier this month, we learned that Presbyterian Healthcare Services is canceling most of its Medicare Advantage Plans, leaving 30,000 people to find insurance elsewhere and laying off 150 people.
The industry uses a term called social inflation to justify these hikes 鈥� blaming everything from COVID-19 to shifts in jury perspectives. Insurance companies claim they are scared of large verdicts, yet they fail to mention that the vast majority of cases never reach a jury, and total payout amounts across the industry have remained relatively stable when adjusted for actual inflation.
What we are witnessing is a hard market by design. By jacking up rates while lawsuits are down, insurance companies are padding their reserves and ensuring that even if they face a rare large verdict, their bottom line remains untouched.
As a trial lawyer, my job is to fight for justice for patients who have been catastrophically injured by medical negligence. I believe in accountability. But I also believe in a healthcare system that works for doctors.
It is time to stop blaming the courtroom for the greed of the boardroom. If we want to lower healthcare costs and keep doctors in New Mexico, we shouldn鈥檛 be looking at tort reform; we should be looking at insurance reform.
The AMA鈥檚 data has exposed the broken system. It鈥檚 not the lawyers or the juries who are breaking it 鈥� it鈥檚 the insurers who are profiting from the wreckage. They make it impossible for physicians to practice without paying exorbitant premiums.
Cherie LaCour is a principal at Bencoe & LaCour Law. She specializes in medical malpractice law.
