If you’re getting medical treatment as a result a car accident, you may have a personal injury claim. If you have health insurance, it’s always a good idea to use your health insurance to pay your medical bills so you can get the treatment you need.

At the end of your case, your health insurance may be entitled to reimbursement. Most people know and understand how public programs, like Medicare, Medicaid, and Tricare have liens for reimbursement, but what about private health insurance?

If you buy your own health insurance, chances are that, in North Carolina, you don’t have any reimbursement to worry about. The NC Administrative Code prohibits reimbursement or subrogation of health insurance plans unless there’s a specific statute that allows such repayment.

With private health insurance plan through your employer, however, that can be tricky.  Many corporate plans are now governed by the federal ERISA statute, which gives the plan a right to recover what’s paid on your behalf. Not all plans qualify for that repayment, but that doesn’t stop many from trying to get it anyway. If the plan is entitled to reimbursement, they’ll usually tell you they have a lien, but that’s not correct. They MAY have a contractual right of reimbursement, which is not the same thing as a lien.

When a plan tries to get something from you when they aren’t entitled to it, that’s fraud, pure and simple. Sometimes a single phone call or letter from a lawyer will make them back down, but sometimes we have to push back hard to get them to obey the law. Our personal injury lawyers have over 50 years of combined experience in dealing with liens, subrogation, and reimbursement of health insurance plans, and of pushing back against plans that don’t have those rights. We also know how and when to negotiate with the plans that have rights, in order to try and put more money back in your pocket.

If you’re been hurt in a car accident, trucking collision, motorcycle wreck, or otherwise hurt by someone else’s negligence, call us at 919-348-4361 or click here to contact us for a free consultation. Let us put our experience to work for you.

More on Billing Your Health Insurance For Your Car Accident Treatment

Protecting Your Claim and Your Credit Rating After a Car Accident

Keeping Your Eyes on Your Bills During a Personal Injury Claim