Experience shows otherwise.
California and Indiana have drastically changed their tort systems to limit compensation for victims of medical negligence. Neither state has experienced lower health care costs or shown any indications that its system has improved as a result. California's changes were effective in 1985, and Indiana's changes were effective in 1980. If changing the tort system were truly the answer to lowering health care costs, California's and Indiana's increases should be lower than the national average. Moreover, the District of Columbia, where the tort system has remained intact, experienced the lowest per capita health care expenditure of all the states.