Potential Effects of the Affordable Care Act on Loss Calculations

Joshua Congdon-Hohman and Victor Matheson

No 1506, Working Papers from College of the Holy Cross, Department of Economics

Abstract: This paper examines how the Affordable Care Act might affect the analysis of future care costs in medical malpractice, product or accident liability, or workplace injury cases. Prior to the ACA, it was reasonable to presume that a great deal of a victim’s future health care costs would be paid for out-of-pocket as there was little guarantee that the plaintiff would have access to affordable insurance. Since January 2014, however, a plaintiff can obtain insurance that will cover a significant portion of any future medical costs. This paper examines the basic structure of the ACA, how it has affected health insurance markets, and provides examples of how the ACA might be introduced into an analysis of future life care costs. In addition, case law regarding the application of the ACA is examined as well as arguments for and against considering the availability of health insurance in medical litigation. Finally, additional details regarding the application of the ACA by the practicing forensic economist are addressed. Length: 20 pages

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)
Date: 2015-09
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-hea, nep-ias and nep-law
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Published in Forensic Economics: Determining Damages in Civil Litigation, Frank Tinari, ed., (New York: Palgrave McMillan, 2016), Pages 145-160.

Downloads: (external link)
https://hcapps.holycross.edu/hcs/RePEc/hcx/HC1506- ... ngdon_ACAChapter.pdf (application/pdf)

Related works:
Chapter: Potential Effects of the Affordable Care Act on Loss Calculations (2016)
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:hcx:wpaper:1506

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in Working Papers from College of the Holy Cross, Department of Economics Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Victor Matheson (vmatheso@holycross.edu).