Hoffman v. 21st Century North America Insurance Company: Abrogation of the Collateral Source Rule?

Abstract

Since its introduction into American jurisprudence, the collateral source rule has been a source of persistent dispute and contention. American legal scholars have long been divided over the value of its function, and over the last century, both proponents and opponents have predicted its demise due to the ever-present push for tort reform and decades-long discussions of universal healthcare. Several states have completely abrogated the rule, while several others have merely modified it by limiting its application.3 The enactment of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) gave substance to collateral source naysayers’ long-argued, scholarly fantasies of the rule’s demise, and worried the pro-rule advocates who frequently claimed that the rule had indissoluble staying power. Few anticipated, however, that the ACA would have little effect on the collateral source rule, aside from confusing parties on both sides of the fence.