Do Health Reform and Malpractice Reform Fit Together?

Abstract

A frequent claim among critics of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) is that they would have been more likely to support “real health care reform” if it included malpractice reform. Indeed, many Republicans argued that health care spending and defensive medicine could be controlled only if the PPACA included comprehensive malpractice reform. The final version of the PPACA, however, included only two minor provisions related to medical malpractice. Why did the PPACA not emphasize malpractice reform as a more important component of health care reform? Should the PPACA have done more to change the rules of malpractice liability? What kinds of changes might make sense? We provide a structured response to these questions, blending a discussion of politics and policy.

Keywords: Malpractice, PPACA, Health Reform, Tort Reform

JEL Classification: K13, K41