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Unclear if Trump will Modify Tort Reform Measures as Part of New Healthcare Act

By Jack FarnbauchJanuary 16, 2017

There is much speculation on what the Republican’s new healthcare act replacing the Affordable Care Act will be. After the election of Donald Trump, the American Tort Reform Association declared that plaintiffs’ attorneys would be a casualty of the new President’s effort for tort reform. However, many experts are thinking that might not be the case. Other experts wonder if there is anything that can be done on the federal level.

Medical malpractice attorneys are saying that there are so many levels to repealing or modifying the Affordable Care Act and Dodd-Frank Act that tort reform will likely fall to the bottom of the to-do list of Republicans.  Also, the Affordable Care Act never actually addressed medical malpractice reform so any changes would be a wholly new portion of reforms. 

Another reason that federal tort reform is not likely under Trump is because medical malpractice regulation has been on a state-by-state basis. Indiana for example has a cap on damages and a medical review panel. Other states have no caps or bars to the courts. Tort reform has not been a pressing issue nationally for quite some time also.  

We shall see in the future if the new changes to healthcare on the federal level include any tort reform provisions.