Most personal injury claims involve medical treatment, and sometimes they involve a lot of it. Diagnostic tests like bloodwork, x-rays, CT scans, and MRI scans can all be very expensive. If you need surgery or have to stay overnight in the hospital, those bills can quickly pass the $20,000 mark. Victims of nursing home abuse, car wrecks, and animal attacks can all easily rack up significant medical bills. Hopefully, you’ll have health insurance to cover those expenses and get the treatment you need, since you can’t depend on the other side’s insurance company to do anything until your case settles.
After your treatment is paid for (and sometimes before then) you’re likely to get a phone call, letter, or email from a company claiming that your health insurance has a “lien” or a claim for “subrogation” against your claim, and they are entitled to be repaid. Liens are legal rights to repayment. “Subrogation” means stepping into the legal rights of someone else. If your health insurance plan has a subrogation provision in the plan’s documents, that means that they can “step into your shoes” in order to sue the person who hurt you, if you decide not to do so.
HOWEVER, this is often a trap. Plans like Medicare and Medicaid have liens automatically, and may be able to pursue your claim against the other side if you don’t. But, many of the companies that pursue subrogation claims for health insurance plans are incredibly unethical, and will commit or attempt to commit fraud by claiming that their client, the health insurance plan, has a right of subrogation even when it does NOT. These same plans will often have people contact you claiming to be lawyers when they are not, claiming you have no choice when you often do, claiming they will protect your rights when they won’t, and claiming they can’t negotiate for a smaller reimbursement from your own settlement or verdict, when that’s not true either. Often your health insurance plan doesn’t even know that this is happening.
Protect yourself from subrogation fraud by consulting with an experienced attorney. The lawyers at the Miller Law Group have more than 50 years of combined experience in handling claims like yours, and they know how to deal with these companies. Take action to protect yourself from fraud. If you’ve been injured, contact your doctor to set up any treatment you need. Then contact our award-winning lawyers to see what we can do to help. Our lawyers really ARE lawyers, and we’ve got your back.
