Life-care Awards in the Age of the Affordable Care Act

Joshua Congdon-Hohman and Victor Matheson

No 1406, Working Papers from College of the Holy Cross, Department of Economics

Abstract: Prior to January 1, 2014, it would have been reasonable to assume that persons injured in an act of negligence would be forced to pay for their future medical care costs out-of-pocket rather than being able to rely on health insurance. The passage of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) has the potential to radically change how victims pay for future medical expenses, and now nearly every tort award that provides money to the plaintiff for the full payment of medical costs without consideration of the availability of health insurance will serve to overcompensate victims for their expected medical costs. New statutory or judicial rulings regarding subrogation and the collateral source rule appear to be required in order to simultaneously achieve the twin goals of making a tortfeasor pay for their damages while also making the victim whole.

Keywords: Affordable Care Act; forensic economics; tort awards; lawsuits; health insurance (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I13 I18 K41 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 8 pages
Date: 2014-09
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-ger, nep-hea, nep-ias and nep-law
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Published in National Litigation Consultants’ Review, Volume 4, Fall 2014, Pages 1-3

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