Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-t7czq Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-23T21:32:25.676Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Tort reform: do details matter?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 February 2021

Rachel G. Childers Open the ORCID record for Rachel G. Childers [Opens in a new window]
Rachel G. Childers*
Affiliation:
Presbyterian College, 503 S. Broad St., Clinton, SC29325, USA
*
Corresponding author. Email: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

One explanation for increases in health care costs has been malpractice lawsuits. States have introduced several types of tort reforms to control increases in health care costs. This paper adds to the literature by examining how the differences in joint and several liability (JSL) reforms affect the state-specific growth rate in health care expenditures. Additionally, the paper addresses the potential for a fundamental difference between states that pass different types of liability reforms. The results show that JSL reforms that limit joint liability based on percentage of blame have statistically and economically significant impacts on health care expenditure growth rates.

Keywords

Medical inflationliabilityI18K13
Type
Article
Information
Health Economics, Policy and Law , Volume 16 , Issue 3 , July 2021 , pp. 308 - 324
Check for updates
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

American Medical Association (2009) Open Letter to President Obama and Members of Congress. Available at http://www.ama-assn.org/ama1/pub/upload/mm/399/open-letter-090809.pdf (Accessed 17 April 2013).Google Scholar
Avraham, R (2007) An empirical study of the impact of tort reforms on medical malpractice settlement payments. The Journal of Legal Studies 36, S183–S229.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Avraham, R (2011) Database of State tort Law Reforms (DSTLR 4th). U of Texas Law, Law and Econ Research Paper, 184.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Avraham, R and Bustos, Á (2010) The unexpected effects of caps on non-economic damages. International Review of Law and Economics 30, 291–305.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Avraham, R and Schanzenbach, MM (2010) The impact of tort reform on private health insurance coverage, February 2010. American Law and Economics Review 12, 319–355.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Avraham, R, Dafny, LS and Schanzenbach, MM (2009) The Impact of Tort Reform on Employer-Sponsored Health Insurance Premiums. Working Paper 15371. NBER Working Paper Series. Available at http://www.nber.org/papers/w15371.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Avraham, R, Dafny, LS and Schanzenbach, MM (2012) The impact of tort reform on employer-sponsored health insurance premiums. The Journal of Law, Economics, & Organization 28, 657–686.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Born, P, Viscusi, WK and Baker, T (2006) The Effects of Tort Reform on Medical Malpractice Insurers' Ultimate Losses. The Harvard John M. Olin Center for Law, Economics, and Business.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Carvell, D, Currie, J and MacLeod, WB (2012) Accidental death and the rule of joint and several liability. RAND Journal of Economics 43, 51–77.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Congressional Budget Office (2009) CBO's Analysis of the Effects of Proposals to Limit Costs Related to Medical Malpractice. Available at http://www.cbo.gov/sites/default/files/cbofiles/ftpdocs/106xx/doc10641/10-09-tort_reform.pdf (Accessed 15 April 2013).Google Scholar
Cuckler, G and Sisko, A (2013) Modeling per capita state health expenditure variation: state-level characteristics matter. Medicare & Medicaid Research Review 3, mmrr.003.04.a03.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Currie, J and MacLeod, WB (2006) First Do No Harm?: Tort Reform and Birth Outcomes. Working Paper 12478. NBER Working Paper Series. Available at http://www.nber.org/papers/w12478.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Di Matteo, L and Di Matteo, R (1998) Evidence on the determinants of Canadian provincial government health expenditures: 1965–1991. Journal of Health Economics 17, 211–228.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Donohue, JJ III and Wolfers, J (2006) Uses and abuses of empirical evidence in the death penalty debate Working Paper11982. NBER Working Paper Series. Available at http://www.nber.org/papers/w11982.Google Scholar
Durrance, CP (2009) Noneconomic damage caps and medical malpractice claim frequency: a policy endogeneity approach. Journal of Law, Economics and Organization 26, 569–591.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gronfein, WP and Kinney, ED (1991) Controlling large malpractice claims: the unexpected impact of damage caps. Journal of Health Politics, Policy and Law 16, 441–464.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Helland, E and Tabarrok, A (2004) Using placebo laws to test more guns, less crime. Advances in Economic Analysis & Policy 4, 1–7.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hennesy, KD and O'Neill, HM (2004) The effects of malpractice tort reform on defensive medicine. Business and Economics Faculty Publications, 1. https://digitalcommons.ursinus.edu/bus_econ_fac/1Google Scholar
Kaiser Family Foundation (2011) Exhibit 3: Growth in Total Health Expenditure Per Capita, U.S. and Selected Countries, 1970–2008. Available at http://www.kff.org/insurance/snapshot/oecd042111.cfm (Accessed 12 November 2013).Google Scholar
Kessler, D and McClellan, M (1996) Do doctors practice defensive medicine? Quarterly Journal of Economics 111, 353–390.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kessler, D and McClellan, M (1998) The Effects of Malpractice Pressure and Liability Reforms on Physicians’ Perceptions of Medical Care. Working Paper 6346. NBER Working Paper Series. Available at http://www.nber.org/papers/w6346.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kessler, D and McClellan, M (2002) Malpractice law and health care reform: optimal liability policy in an era of managed care. Journal of Public Economics 84, 175–197.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Matsa, DA (2007) Does malpractice liability keep the doctor away? Evidence from tort reform damage caps. The Journal of Legal Studies 36, S143–S182.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mello, MM, Chandra, A, Gawande, AA and Studdert, DM (2010) National costs of the medical liability system. Health Affairs 29, 1569–1577.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
National Health Expenditure Projections, 2011–2021 (2012) Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, Office of the Actuary. Available at http://www.cms.gov/Research-Statistics-Data-and-Systems/Statistics-Trends-and Reports/NationalHealthExpend Data/Downloads/Proj20 11PDF.pdf (Accessed 13 April 2013).Google Scholar
Paik, M, Black, BS, Hyman, DA and Silver, C (2012) Will tort reform bend the cost curve? Evidence from Texas. Journal of Empirical Legal Studies 9, 173–216.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sloan, FA and Shadle, JH (2009) Is there empirical evidence for ‘defensive medicine’? A reassessment. Journal of Health Economics 28, 481–491.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
United States Census Bureau (2012) Statistical Abstract of the United States. Available at http://www.census.gov/prod/2011pubs/12statab/health.pdf (Accessed 14 April 2013).Google Scholar
Viscusi, WK and Born, PH (2005) Damage caps, insurability and the performance of medical malpractice insurance. The Journal of Risk and Insurance 72, 23–43.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Yoon, A (2001) Damage caps and civil litigation: an empirical study of medical malpractice litigation in the south. American Laws and Economics Review 3, 199–227.CrossRefGoogle Scholar