Quantum calculator
US life-care plan present value calculator
The present value of itemised future medical and care costs, with an optional lost-earnings stream, computed in US dollars from a per-state configuration under mainstream forensic-economics conventions. Every figure is shown with its full year-by-year working.
US personal injury and wrongful death law varies significantly by state. There is no single national rule. Every parameter here is per state, nothing defaults, and legal review for the forum state is required before any figure is relied on.
Reference data current to 12 June 2026. Read how these calculators work on the quantum methodology page.
State configuration
Every parameter is per state. Nothing is shipped with the tool and there is no national default. An incomplete configuration refuses to calculate.
Life-care plan items
What this calculator does
A life-care plan sets out the future medical and care costs of an injured person as itemised entries, each with a unit cost, a frequency per year, and a duration in years. This calculator grows each item at its own medical-cost growth rate, discounts each year at the configured net rate under end-of-year discounting, and sums the years. An optional lost-earnings stream is valued as a level amount over the work-life expectancy years, with fringe benefits loaded at the configured state percentage.
Every parameter is a per-state configuration supplied with the calculation. That includes the discount method, because state law dictates whether the net-discount-rate method or the total offset method applies. Under total offset, applied for example in Pennsylvania under Kaczkowski v Bolubasz, growth and discounting are treated as cancelling and each stream returns its base annual amount multiplied by its duration. No state data is shipped with the tool. A calculation without a complete configuration refuses with a flag and never falls back to a default.
The calculator deliberately does not compute wrongful death figures, the personal-consumption deduction, or the collateral source treatment. Those are stored and displayed per-state parameters only. The traditional collateral source rule bars deduction of collateral benefits, and many states have enacted tort-reform modifications or abolitions, which is exactly why the treatment is displayed rather than computed. Front-loaded allocation of the earnings stream is not implemented; the stream is allocated uniformly and the working says so.
For fringe benefits, the conventional band is 20 to 35 per cent of base earnings. As national context, the Bureau of Labor Statistics Employer Costs for Employee Compensation release for March 2026 (USDL-26-0827, released 12 June 2026) reported private-industry benefits averaging 14.01 dollars per hour, which is 30.1 per cent of total compensation of 46.60 dollars per hour. That figure is a national private-industry average that moves with each quarterly release. It is context only and is never used as a default input.
Work-life expectancy is entered in years. The dominant published source, the Skoog, Ciecka and Krueger tables in the Journal of Forensic Economics, is licensed journal content and is not reproduced in this tool. The input is flagged as an interim substitute in every calculation that uses it. This page is written in British English, consistent with the rest of the site; the question of copy language for a US audience is held for operator review.
Primary sources
- Bureau of Labor Statistics, Employer Costs for Employee Compensation, March 2026 (USDL-26-0827, released 12 June 2026). The release URL is to be verified on the BLS ECEC pages before it is linked here.
- Kaczkowski v Bolubasz (Pennsylvania), the total offset method. The full citation is to be verified against the published Pennsylvania law report.
- Skoog, Ciecka and Krueger, the Markov-process work-life expectancy tables, Journal of Forensic Economics 22(2), 2011, pp.165 to 229. Journal-published content, not reproduced here pending licensing.
- Slesnick, Luthy and Brookshire 2013, reporting the 2012 NAFE survey under which 67.5 per cent of forensic economists use Markov-process worklife tables.
Frequently asked questions
What is a life-care plan present value calculation?
A life-care plan itemises future medical and care costs, each entry with a unit cost, a frequency per year, and a duration in years. Future losses are reduced to present value as of the trial or valuation date, with the medical-cost growth rate separated from the general discount rate. This calculator applies end-of-year discounting and shows the year-by-year working for every item.
Why does the calculator need a per-state configuration?
US personal injury and wrongful death law varies significantly by state and there is no single national rule. Every parameter here is a per-state configuration supplied with the calculation. No state data is shipped, no national default exists, and a calculation without a complete configuration refuses with a flag rather than falling back.
What is the difference between the net discount rate and total offset methods?
The net discount rate is the differential between the discount rate and the earnings-growth rate, conventionally 1 to 3 per cent. Some states apply the total offset method instead, a net discount rate of zero, for example Pennsylvania under Kaczkowski v Bolubasz. State law dictates the permissible method, which is why the method is part of the state configuration.
How are fringe benefits handled?
Fringe benefits are additional to base earnings, typically 20 to 35 per cent of earnings, covering paid leave, insurance, retirement, and legally required contributions. The band is anchored to the Bureau of Labor Statistics Employer Costs for Employee Compensation release for March 2026, under which private-industry benefits averaged 14.01 dollars per hour and accounted for 30.1 per cent of total compensation of 46.60 dollars per hour. The percentage applied in a calculation always comes from the per-state configuration, never from that national average.
Where does work-life expectancy come from?
The dominant source in forensic economics is the Markov-process increment-decrement model published as the Skoog, Ciecka and Krueger work-life expectancy tables in the Journal of Forensic Economics 22(2), 2011, tabulated by initial labour-force status, age, sex and education. Per the 2012 NAFE survey, 67.5 per cent of forensic economists use Markov-process worklife tables. Those tables are journal-published content and are not reproduced in this tool pending licensing, so work-life expectancy is a clearly flagged user input in years.
What does this calculator deliberately not compute?
Wrongful death computation, the personal-consumption deduction, and the collateral source treatment are stored and displayed per-state parameters only; they are never computed here. Front-loaded allocation of the earnings stream, which affects present value, is not implemented; the stream is allocated uniformly across the work-life expectancy years. Every output carries a warning that state law varies and legal review for the forum state is required.