GILLETTE, Wyo. (AP) - A Minnesota-based insurance company is dropping medical malpractice coverage for doctors who practice in Wyoming, a Gillette insurance agent said Friday.

"I'm sure there's a lot of factors involved" in Midwest Medical Insurance Co.'s decision to limit the coverage, said Mike Maguire, a spokesman for Black Hills Agency.

He declined further comment, stating, "They wanted us to direct everything to them."

Several calls to Midwest Medical's corporate headquarters in Minneapolis this week weren't returned. It was not immediately known how many doctors would be affected.

The company was formed in 1980 and later expanded into North and South Dakota, Nebraska and Wisconsin.

Earlier this year, Ohic Insurance Co., Wyoming's largest supplier of malpractice coverage, announced it was pulling out, leaving about 400 doctors scrambling to secure new policies amid dwindling competition.

Rep. Frank Latta, R-Gillette, said insurance companies are handicapping the state's health care system.

"Not only are they holding the physicians hostage, I believe they're holding the citizens of Wyoming hostage, he said.

The decision by Midwest Medical could result in loss of a neurosurgeon and neurologist, a plastic surgeon, an ophthalmologist and orthopedic specialists from Rapid City, S.D., who practice in Gillette.

Latta said the health and malpractice insurance issue is something that needs both local and national reform.

On Tuesday, Wyoming voters will decide whether to reform the legal system.

A constitutional amendment on the ballot would allow the Legislature to set caps on non-economic damages such as for pain and suffering in malpractice cases.

Another amendment would allow the Legislature to require dispute resolution or medical panel review before a person files a lawsuit against a health care provider for injury or death.

"It may buy us a little time to deal with the rest of it," Latta said.

Information from: News-Record, http://www.gillettenewsrecord.com