The net effects of medical malpractice tort reform on health insurance losses: the Texas experience

Patricia H Born; J Bradley Karl; W Kip Viscusi

doi:10.1186/s13561-017-0174-2

The net effects of medical malpractice tort reform on health insurance losses: the Texas experience

Health Econ Rev. 2017 Nov 24;7(1):42. doi: 10.1186/s13561-017-0174-2.

Authors

Patricia H Born¹, J Bradley Karl², W Kip Viscusi³

Affiliations

¹ Florida State University, College of Business, Tallahassee, FL, USA.
² East Carolina University, College of Business, Greenville, NC, USA.
³ Vanderbilt University Law School, 131 21st Avenue South, Nashville, TN, 37203, USA. kip.viscusi@vanderbilt.edu.

Abstract

In this paper, we examine the influence of medical malpractice tort reform on the level of private health insurance company losses incurred. We employ a natural experiment framework centered on a series of tort reform measures enacted in Texas in 2003 that drastically altered the medical malpractice environment in the state. The results of a difference-in-differences analysis using a variety of comparison states, as well as a difference-in-difference-in-differences analysis, indicate that ameliorating medical malpractice risk has little effect on health insurance losses incurred by private health insurers.

Keywords: Health insurance; Liability; Medical malpractice; Tort reform.