National implementation of a package of proposals similar to the preceding list would reduce total national premiums for medical liability insurance by about 10 percent, CBO now estimates.CBO estimates that the direct costs that providers will incur in 2009 for medical malpractice liability--which consist of malpractice insurance premiums together with settlements, awards, and administrative costs not covered by insurance--will total approximately $35 billion, or about 2 percent of total health care expenditures.
Because medical malpractice laws exist to allow patients to sue for damages that result from negligent health care, imposing limits on that right might be expected to have a negative impact on health outcomes. There is less evidence about the effects of tort reform on people's health, however, than about its effects on health care spending--because many studies of malpractice costs do not examine health outcomes. Some recent research has found that tort reform may adversely affect such outcomes, but other studies have concluded otherwise.
See the report to Honorable Orrin G. Hatch by the Douglas W. Elmendorf, October 9, 2009.
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