The numbers speak for themselves:

Rates have fallen an average of 21.3 percent, and up to 41 percent at one insurance company, says former state Rep. Joe Nixon, a Houston trial lawyer who helped sponsor passage of Proposition 12. According to figures given to Nixon by the state’s largest insurer, Texas Medical Liability Trust:

* An internal medicine doctor in Houston paid $18,507 for malpractice insurance in 2003 but only $13,272 in 2007, or $10,403 with a 20 percent renewal dividend.
* An obstetrician paid $56,564 in 2003 but only $41,575 in 2007, or $32,585 at the renewal rate.
* A neurosurgeon paid $103,558 in 2003 but only $76,117 in 2007, or the renewal rate of $59,659.