Scott,

Cold you post a link to the 25% figure you cited.  I spent some time looking for it last night  with no success.  I did find some interesting information on the National Practitioners Data Bank created in 1990.  It seems that about 82-85% of doctors have never had a malpractice payout from the time the database was establised.  I realize claims paid and suits filed are apples and oranges.  Still, from reading the Kaiser report and the Aon report is appears that about 85% of the malpractice suits filed failed.  I also saw in Medical Economics Magazine that 6% of physicians are resposible for 50% of the payouts.  It leaves me wondering about the one in four chance of a particular doctor being sued in a given year.

Regarding premiums, keep in mind that risk is not the only consideration.  The insurance companies also look at their return on investment in determining rates as well as the competition for buisness.  Returns on the so called conservative investments generaly favored by insurance companies have been poor of late and several carriers have stopped offering medical malpractice altogether (St. Paul, etc.).