Speaking of the Miracles of the Free Market; UPDATED WITH A GOOD POINT

The insurance industry is of course a necessity -- but they use that necessity as a jumping off point for the most vile, if not evil, practices i.e unbridled greed and extortion.

A consumer coalition has released a new study that disputes insurers' contention that the most recent medical malpractice insurance crisis for doctors was caused by rising costs.

The study, Stable Losses/Unstable Rates 2007, by Americans for Insurance Reform (AIR) , a coalition of over 100 consumer and public interest groups, finds that the insurance crisis that hit doctors between 2001 and 2004 was not caused by claims, payouts or legal system excesses as the insurance industry claimed. Rather, the study of the industry's own data, found:

Inflation-adjusted payouts per doctor not only failed to increase
between 2001 and 2004, a time when doctors' premiums skyrocketed, but they have been stable or falling throughout this entire decade.

Medical malpractice insurance premiums rose much faster in the early years of this decade than was justified by insurance payouts.

At no time were recent increases in premiums connected to actual
payouts. Rather, they reflected the well-known cyclical phenomenon
called a ''hard'' market. Property/casualty insurance industry ''hard'' markets have occurred three times in the past 30 years.

[More]

And another, better opinion:

Neat, isn't it? Of course Circuit City could have made similar savings by first firing its CEO, Philip J. Schooner, who earned around 2.17 million dollars last year and then letting him reapply at the "market" rate for CEOs.

Now why would a firm openly admit to doing something like this? Could it be a way around possible age discrimination suits? Many better paid workers are not only more experienced but also older.

Link.