Nursing Home Lawsuits - Liability Insurance Coverage - Liability Insurance Premiums

Nursing Home Lawsuits – Their Effect On Policies Pertaining To The Industry

In the last few years, the increasing number of nursing home lawsuits in the United States has placed the industry under severe strain. And the growing percentage of elderly population in the country has only made matters worse! Even though the number of lawsuits filed against nursing homes is on the rise, the average cost of settlement of such cases has been steadily decreasing, as most of these cases are now being settled through third-party arbitration and never really go through a formal trial.

As such, it is difficult to get complete data about the settlement expenses incurred by nursing homes and their insurance companies in settling nursing home lawsuits. However, a sample study revealed that 88% of these cases were resolved through settlements, with the recovery claims averaging over $400,000!

Most liability insurers in Florida stopped writing new policies for such “long-term” care facilities, and the ones who continued the renewals increased their premiums from 100% to 1000%! But there is no way to justify this other than profiteering on the part of insurance companies. This forced almost 1/10th of the nursing home facilities in Florida to operate without any liability insurance coverage!

There is no denying that a majority of such claims against nursing homes are genuine and legitimate – pertaining to either the residents or the staff members or any other companies having dealings with the nursing facilities. Nursing home lawsuits are filed more often against those facilities which provide really poor quality of care or have a larger number of residents, leading to a greater exposure.