If you’ve been injured in a car wreck, how do you get treatment?  Maybe you know immediately that you’re hurt and are taken by EMS to an emergency room.  Others go to the ER or an urgent care shortly after the wreck.  This often happens because a wreck will cause a surge of adrenalin, so you are “amped up” and worried about damage to your vehicle, checking to see if others are hurt, contacting your job to let them know where you are, and telling a police officer what happened.  Many people often decide that some pain is normal, and that it will go away on its own, but as it gets worse, they decide to seek medical advice.  You should NEVER get treatment you don’t need.  But if you are in pain or experiencing other issues (dizziness, nausea, confusion, visual changes, etc.) then you likely need to seek help.

Once you see the doctor, if you have health insurance, what happens next to your bills? As discussed in other posts on the Miller Law Group website, you should ALWAYS use your health insurance if you have it, even if it’s Medicaid, Medicare, TRICARE, or any other health insurance.  That’s because you don’t know how long your treatment may last, what it might cost, or how long the other person’s automobile insurance will fight you over your claim.  But what happens after the case resolves?  Many health insurance plans are entitled to be repaid out of your settlement or jury verdict, because part of your recovery may be based on your medical expenses.  Some plans, such as Medicaid, Medicare, and TRICARE, have liens on personal injury claims that entitle them to be repaid in every circumstance if you recover anything.  Other government plans (like North Carolina’s State Employees Health Plan) have similar rights.  Corporate health insurance through your job may be governed by the Federal ERISA statute which may entitle them to be repaid.  Many privately purchased plans may not require any repayment, since you, the individual, have been paying the premiums for that coverage.  If a health insurance plan has a right to recovery, it typically doesn’t matter whether you are involved in an automobile wreck, trucking collision, animal attack, slip and fall, or other type of injury: the plan wants to be repaid.

There can be serious legal consequences if you don’t repay a plan that has a right of recovery.  Your benefits can be severely affected and in some cases you can potentially be sued.  The attorneys at the Miller Law Group have decades of experience in dealing with these plans.  As we often tell our clients, the hardest part of our representation can be dealing with your own insurance benefits.  If you have been injured in a car wreck or suffered another type of injury, you should allow a lawyer to review the case and explain not only your options, but also your own potential responsibilities.  At the Miller Law Group, we look BEYOND the resolution of the liability claim, to protect our clients’ interests and rights, even if we are fighting a liability insurance company on side and a health insurance plan on the other.  Contact the Miller Law Group for a free consultation about your claim today.  Let us put our passion, experience and commitment to work for you.