The Concept of Reasonable Value in Recovery of Medical Expenses in Personal Injury Torts: An Update from 2008 to 2015

The first paper published as part of the Review Section of the Journal of Legal Economics was this author’s 2008 paper on ‘‘The Concept of Reasonable Value in Recovery of Medical Expenses in Personal Injury Torts.’’ The core issue was whether plaintiffs should be permitted to recover medical expenses based on amounts originally billed for medical expenses following an injury, amounts actually paid by third party providers in satisfaction of those bills, or some mix of amounts originally billed and amounts ultimately paid to satisfy those bills. Over seven years have gone by since that paper was written, and the issue is no closer to a final resolution. Some states continue to allow recovery for past medical expenses to be based on amounts originally billed, and some states continue to allow recovery of only the amounts ultimately paid to satisfy those bills. The purpose of this note is to update that discussion to include legal decisions regarding this issue from 2008 up to July 1, 2015.