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Federalization Snowballs: The Need For National Action In Medical Malpractice Reform, Abigail R. Moncrieff
Federalization Snowballs: The Need For National Action In Medical Malpractice Reform, Abigail R. Moncrieff
Law Faculty Articles and Essays
Because tort law and healthcare regulation are traditional state functions and because medical, legal, and insurance practices are localized, legal scholars have long believed that medical malpractice falls within the states' exclusive jurisdiction and sovereignty. This conventional view fails to consider the impact that federal healthcare programs have on the states' incentives to regulate. As a result of federal financing, each state externalizes some of the costs of its malpractice policy onto the federal government. The federal government therefore needs to take charge of medical malpractice in order to fix the spillover problem created by existing federal healthcare programs.
Importantly, …