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RALEIGH - In the face of rising malpractice claims and lower returns on stock investments, North Carolina Medical Mutual Insurance Co. is tapping its 8,000 physician members for a cash infusion of up to $12 million.
Each doctor will be asked for a lump sum payment of between $2,000 and $5,000 into the company's guaranty fund in a capital replenishment move that has been approved by both the Medical Mutual Board of Directors and the North Carolina Department of Insurance.
DOI regulators did stipulate, though, that the physician-owned malpractice insurer could not activate the plan without a vote of the policy-holding membership. That vote is set for Dec. 20.
"We're not doing this because things have gone out of whack," says Chief Executive Officer Dale Jenkins. "What we're trying to do is to keep them from going out of whack."
Without the cash infusion, company officials say, they would have been left with little choice other than to raise premium rates. "Our mission from the start was to keep (malpractice coverage) affordable and stable," Jenkins says....