Tort law is something that has a major impact on healthcare. Tort law is the sort of law that allows people to file lawsuits against other people and against companies either for intentional acts or for negligence. This law impacts healthcare in a significant way because people can file lawsuits whenever health providers do something wrong and cause injury. This can cause costs in the industry to go up, with hospitals costing much more money.
When there are caps on how much money a person can sue for, healthcare costs less for everyone. However, this puts limitations on people and on their rights. Contract law also has a major impact on healthcare. Contract law is the law that defines what agreements look like and what happens when people break those agreements. This relates to healthcare law because the people who purchase health insurance are doing so through the use of contracts. These contracts define when an insurance provider must make a payout, under what circumstances they can deny a payment, and what parameters the payments are made under. This has an impact on how much everything costs.
Employment law also has a major impact on healthcare. Hospitals are big companies. They employ lots of people. In addition, companies not in the industry have to put up with the requirements of getting health insurance for their employees.
Ultimately it is tort law that has the biggest impact. This law defines how much a hospital, its employees, and its doctors can be sued for. Not only does this put a strain on the doctors, but it also puts a strain on the whole system, making insurance more expensive and driving up the costs for the average person at the same time. Ultimately this is a form of law that can bring about big changes in healthcare when changes are made to the law.
- Avraham, R., Dafny, L. S., & Schanzenbach, M. M. (2012). The impact of tort reform on employer-sponsored health insurance premiums. Journal of Law, Economics, and Organization, 28(4), 657-686.
