Every so often we see debates in the media about whether hospitals, doctor, even lawyers, should be required to carry insurance. Required, that is, by law.
Here's whats brewing in Oklahoma
According to a consumer group based out of Tulsa, Oklahoma, many of the nursing homes in the state appear to be under operation without insurance for medical malpractice.
According to Hugh M. Robert, the executive director of the Oklahoma Center for Consumer & Patient Safety, the lack of insurance for the homes often leaves families with no legal recourse if a patient of one of the nursing home suffers serious neglect or abuse. He says that some of those nursing homes are being operated by shell companies which have no assets and no insurance.
Robert has called for the enactment of a Senate-passed bill that would require insurance to be carried by the nursing homes.
According to Becky Moore, executive director of the Oklahoma Association of Health Care providers, a "blizzard" of lawsuits has resulted in a fivefold increase over recent years in the rates of insurance.
According to Moore, the company that supplied a majority of the nursing homes in the state with insurance went into bankruptcy.