Medical practitioners are often faced with lawsuits and claims for negligence and malpractice - an occupational hazard of being a medical practitioner. Hence, medical liability insurance that covers practitioners in case of such lawsuits and claims is very important for every kind of medical professional.

There are many insurance companies that offer medical liability insurance. However, because of the mounting number of lawsuits and cases against medical practitioners, many of these companies have either stopped providing medical liability insurance or charge a heavy premium. This is because most of these companies have had to pay a lot in such claims or for legal expenses. Thus, medical liability insurance in itself seems to have become a liability for most liability companies.

This has led to a kind of crisis within the medical community, more so in specialty areas like orthopedics, with many practitioners choosing to retire early or to close practices because of the unavailability of affordable medical liability insurance. This is causing other social problems because it results in increasing costs of health care, making it harder for everyone.

However there are many insurance companies that offer medical liability insurance, either directly through their exclusive brokers and agents or through independent agents. Independent agents are those who are entitled to sell policies from different companies. These agents can help medical practitioners select the suitable policy from among the available policies.

Most of the insurance companies have compartments and segregations when it comes to charging premiums. For instance, an orthopedic surgeon would be charged a different premium than a general practitioner. Usually these premium rates are fixed and are not negotiable. However, looking and shopping around with different companies will open up different options for someone who is shopping for medical liability insurance.