Alan Jones, on 'Today', Channel Nine
JONES: As a measure of concern that the Federal Government rightly has for the fate of professional indemnity insurer, UMP, the Prime Minister has established a task force to oversee the rescue bid by the newly appointed provisional liquidator David Lombe.
Mr Lombe is a partner with the accounting firm, Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu. He was appointed on Friday in the Supreme Court of New South Wales because of the parlous finances of UMP - which ensures 90 per cent of doctors in New South Wales and 60 per cent across the country.
In an affidavit to the Supreme Court on Friday, UMP Chairman Dr John Quayle - now that's the bloke who wrote to doctors on March 28 telling them everything was okay - he said that the capital levels of UMP had fallen from $90.6 million on June 30 last year to $33.4 million at the end of March.
The members of the board have no personal insurance cover past June 30, and can't afford it, and it's said that UMP may have between at least 300 million and $400 million of future claims joining its balance sheet, which would make it insolvent.
But the real fate of UMP won't be known until Mr Lombe and his 12 strong team assess the true financial position, and that will all begin this week.
Time is not on anyone's side. There are many doctors now not covered other than by the Government guarantee until June 30, who may not get cover from other medical defence organisations.
There is a suggestion that one of the options is to make a call on doctors to raise extra money, but doctors may choose not to practice or costs could be passed on to the consumer.
Simply, two things have emerged - it is a crisis, and we all have a stake in it.
I'm Alan Jones.
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