Claims Frequency and Severity in 2026: An Interview with Robert E. White, Jr.

So as I said, we're going to talk about data, specifically the data that shapes our understanding of the medical malpractice climate in the United States, what we have, what we are missing.

why that matters.

I recently had the chance to sit down with Robert E.

White, who's president at the doctor's company, TDC Group, the largest physician-owned insurer in the country with operations in all 50 states, to discuss their most recent report on claims and severity trends.

And it's exactly the data-driven work that moves us in the right direction, and we are going to get into it shortly.

But before we do, I want to sort of set the table because the interview prompted me to think carefully about the landscape of data we are actually working with.

And I think there's something important to say about its current limits.

And by coincidence, a listener sent a letter in to me as a voice memo.

And this listener lives in a highly litigious state.

He asked to remain anonymous, but he talked about a 700% increase in a group's malpractice insurance premiums over eight years.

And he did a deeper dive and saw that This was not a case of the insurance company gouging them in any way.

In fact, the insurance company was losing a lot of money on the group.

In our interview, Mr.

White and I will touch briefly on how where you live influences your risk greatly, but most doctors do not know about

that.

They

do not

have access to

that data.

I think there actually is some fear that doctors may leave those areas if they really understood their risk, but it should be their right to do so.

And that should drive law and policy.

So if you haven't listened to the episode on New Mexico earlier this season about the weaponization of punitive damages there and how that impacted access to care, please do listen.

So here is what this doctor had to say.

I am a doctor living in a highly litigious state, and I'm concerned that the published data I see on malpractice risk and on insurance premiums is not representative of the world in which I live.

Providing national data obscures and minimizes the problems faced by doctors in the most litigious environments, which then allows the medical malpractice lobby in such locations to push their agenda to even greater extremes.

So as I said, we're going to talk about data, specifically the data that shapes our understanding of the medical malpractice climate in the United States, what we have, what we are missing.

why that matters.

I recently had the chance to sit down with Robert E.

White, who's president at the doctor's company, TDC Group, the largest physician-owned insurer in the country with operations in all 50 states, to discuss their most recent report on claims and severity trends.

And it's exactly the data-driven work that moves us in the right direction, and we are going to get into it shortly.

But before we do, I want to sort of set the table because the interview prompted me to think carefully about the landscape of data we are actually working with.

And I think there's something important to say about its current limits.

And by coincidence, a listener sent a letter in to me as a voice memo.

And this listener lives in a highly litigious state.

He asked to remain anonymous, but he talked about a 700% increase in a group's malpractice insurance premiums over eight years.

And he did a deeper dive and saw that This was not a case of the insurance company gouging them in any way.

In fact, the insurance company was losing a lot of money on the group.

In our interview, Mr.

White and I will touch briefly on how where you live influences your risk greatly, but most doctors do not know about

that.

They

do not

have access to

that data.

I think there actually is some fear that doctors may leave those areas if they really understood their risk, but it should be their right to do so.

And that should drive law and policy.

So if you haven't listened to the episode on New Mexico earlier this season about the weaponization of punitive damages there and how that impacted access to care, please do listen.

So here is what this doctor had to say.

I am a doctor living in a highly litigious state, and I'm concerned that the published data I see on malpractice risk and on insurance premiums is not representative of the world in which I live.

Providing national data obscures and minimizes the problems faced by doctors in the most litigious environments, which then allows the medical malpractice lobby in such locations to push their agenda to even greater extremes.