Insurance Marketplace Realities 2026 Spring Update – Healthcare Professional Liability

Key takeaways

• Market engagement: WTW brokers and management continue active engagement with Newfront on healthcare opportunities
• Outlier/nuclear verdicts: The average of the top 50 medical malpractice verdicts rose from $32 million in 2022 to $56 million in 2024 – a 75% increase^[1]
• Thermonuclear verdicts: As of January 2026, at least two medical professional liability verdicts exceeded $100 million^[2]
• Sexual abuse claims: Although only an estimated 5% to 10% of incidents are reported^[3], claim severity continues to increase
  • Insurers are responding with sub-limits, higher deductibles, advanced retroactive dates and exclusions, driving growth in the standalone market. WTW brokers are actively marketing placements to preserve coverage and have sourced up to $10 million in standalone limits across multiple markets.
• Underwriting discipline: Carriers are prioritizing pricing integrity over premium growth and long-term relationships
• Capacity contraction: Many established carriers have reduced available limits from $15 million to $5 million or less
  • WTW’s brokers are aggressively marketing placements to mitigate the impact of these reductions, including utilization of new Gemini capacity and WTW’s automatic follow-form facility.
• Reinsurer influence: Reinsurers continue to drive rate increases and program structure changes, adding complexity to negotiations
• Third-party litigation funding: Investor-backed claims are associated with a 60.5% increase in payouts, 140% longer resolution times and a 35.7% reduction in settlement likelihood^[4]
• Digital transformation: Nearly $1 trillion in healthcare spending is shifting toward digital-first models^[5], including telemedicine, remote monitoring and AI-enabled workflows
  • Organizations must manage licensure, cybersecurity, privacy and clinical oversight risks as insurers continue to develop products to address these exposures.
• Artificial intelligence: AI adoption across clinical decisions, documentation and billing functions continues to expand
  • Readiness assessments are critical to mitigate litigation and regulatory risks^[6]
• Cyber and biometric data risk: Healthcare remains the most targeted sector for ransomware attacks, with demands now routinely exceeding $10 million^[7]

Footnotes

1. Kyoung son Song, “Nuclear medmal verdicts: Is $50mn the new $25mn?,” Insurance Insider, February 24, 2025. Return to article undo
2. Wendy Ketner, M.D., “The Biggest Medical Malpractice Verdicts of 2025,” Expert Institute, January 21, 2026. Return to article undo
3. “Responding to Sexual Abuse in Health Care: Development of a Guide for Patients,” National Library of Medicine, April 18, 2022. Return to article undo
4. Nick Polavin, PHD and David Metz,”Go Sue Me: The Broken Promiss of Third-Party Litigation Funding,” IMS Legal Strategies, February 15, 2024. Return to article undo
5. “From breaking point to breakthrough: the $1 trillion opportunity to reinvent healthcare,” PwC, September 17, 2025. Return to article undo
6. “TDC Group Forecasts Key US Healthcare Trends Through 2026,” Captive.com, February 19, 2026. Return to article undo
7. Jacob Fox, “Healthcare Data Breach Statistics: 2025 Roundup,” Cobalt, October 2, 2025. Return to article undo