Author: Yu FangPublisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 0
Book Description
Three waves of tort reform occurred during mid-1970s, mid-1980s and early 2000s to deal with the liability "crises". The inflationary pressures drove up the medical costs and social inflation pushed up the damage awards size, which led to the tort reform waves. We could see a potential today when the inflation continues to increase. Tort reforms have been widely studied for its impact on the litigation costs and benefits, through which physicians and insurers' liability burden can be affected. While the liability markets have been relatively calm recently, legislative and academic debates over the efficacy of tort reforms and how they influence litigation behavior is not yet resolved. Whether tort reforms work to reduce the medical expenses and exert spillover effect on other insurance line market needs to be tested. A thorough analysis of tort reforms effect will benefit policymakers, regulators, insurers, and physicians and patients. This dissertation consists of three chapters to study how tort reforms affect the insurance markets, with a focus on health insurance markets. Chapter 1 assesses whether the effect of tort reform on the healthcare expenditures depends on the contract conditions under which physicians are paid for their professional services. Chapter 2 explores the potential for tort reforms to improve health insurers' performance by boosting their efficiency. Chapter 3 looks at other types of state reforms and policies influencing liability costs to assess the effect on both medical liability and health insurance markets.