The net effects of medical malpractice tort reform on health insurance losses: the Texas experience

Health Economics Review

Table 4 Difference-in-Differences Regression Analyses of Texas Reforms Including Full Variable Set

	New Jersey	Colorado	41 State Subsample	18 State Subsample	9 State Subsample
DD Estimator	0.5193*	0.1734	0.0566	−0.1421	−0.1018
DD Estimator	[0.292]	[0.291]	[0.249]	[0.262]	[0.276]
Treatment Dummy	−0.5373	−0.1091	0.2461	0.1101	−0.3308
Treatment Dummy	[0.748]	[0.578]	[0.331]	[0.545]	[0.755]
Reform Dummy	0.1043	0.2086	0.3786***	0.5063**	0.6322**
Reform Dummy	[0.163]	[0.139]	[0.130]	[0.199]	[0.247]
Health Status	−0.0056	0.0253	−0.0285	−0.0319	−0.0535
Health Status	[0.037]	[0.043]	[0.027]	[0.042]	[0.038]
Dependents	0.2297	−0.0202	−0.1281***	−0.0814	0.0458
Dependents	[0.215]	[0.200]	[0.048]	[0.121]	[0.198]
Females	−0.0646	−0.0173	−0.0125	0.0355	0.0006
Females	[0.063]	[0.118]	[0.073]	[0.085]	[0.109]
Median Income	0.0000	0.0000	−0.0000	0.0000	−0.0000
Median Income	[0.000]	[0.000]	[0.000]	[0.000]	[0.000]
Unemployment Rate	0.0774***	0.0347	0.0607***	0.0714**	0.0600*
Unemployment Rate	[0.023]	[0.031]	[0.021]	[0.029]	[0.033]
Constant	−1.9597	1.2360	6.0315	1.6430	1.6183
Constant	[5.237]	[7.573]	[4.276]	[5.848]	[9.012]
Observations	687	560	5589	2570	1348
R-squared	0.0202	0.0161	0.0197	0.0370	0.0276

Notes: This table presents the results of several difference-in-differences analyses obtained using the regressions described generally in eq. 1. The dependent variable, Losses per Enrollee (LPE), is defined as the dollar amount of health insurance losses incurred by a given insurer, in a given state, during a given year, scaled by the number of plan enrollees for a given insurer, in a given state, during a given year. LPE is also scaled by 1000. “DD estimator” is the difference-in-differences estimator, “Treatment dummy” indicates firms operating in Texas, and “Reform Dummy” indicates years following the enactment of the Texas reform measures. “Health status”, “Dependents”, “Females”, “Median income” and “Unemployment rate” are all state-level demographic control variables previously described. Each column of output represents a separate analysis that differs only by the subsample of firms used as non-treated groups. Clustered standard errors are presented in parentheses and ***indicates p < 0.01, **indicates p < 0.05, and *indicates p < 0.1

ISSN: 2191-1991