Medicare And Medical Reimbursement Rights From Insurance Claims
Medicare and Medical reimbursement in personal injury claims matters is
a subject that is unknown to most accident victims making injury claims
against insurance companies. Medicare has a right to recover the money
it pays medical providers that have billed Medicare for treatment provided
to personal injury accident victims in situations where the accident victims
obtain a settlement or verdict against a third party defendant who caused
the injury by means of an
automobile accident,
pedestrian accident,
truck accident, medical malpractice, or other acts that were performed in a negligent
manner causing injuries. Medical has the same right to reimbursement under
California law that Medicare has under Federal law. The positive news
is that the amount of reimbursement is not 100% of the money paid out
by Medicare or Medical. They reduce their lien rights by a formula or
percentage based on the amount of legal fees and litigation costs incurred
by the accident victim in obtaining the out of court settlement or jury
trial verdict. The Medicare reduction averages 25%-30%, and Medical approximately
25%. Unfortunately both Medicare and Medical can sometimes take months
to send their final lien amount causing long delays in the final payout
of the settlement proceeds. As the Palm Springs Personal Injury Lawyer
who deals with these government agencies on a daily basis I have firsthand
knowledge as to how frustrating it is to try and get them to be more efficient
in processing these liability claims cases. I settled an assault and battery
case in October of 2011 and sent Medicare all the documents regarding
the settlement of the insurance claim. I sent the material by certified
mail. I had proof the envelope was delivered. I called Medicare yesterday
to find out why we have not heard from Medicare since they are supposed
to send the final lien letter within 65 days of their receipt of the settlement.
I was told that they never received the correspondence and that we would
have to start the process over even though I had proof of mailing and
their receipt. I have had the same thing happen on numerous occasions
in the last 15 months. The problem for my clients is that the defendant's
insurance company won't send out the settlement check until I can
produce the final Medicare lien letter. I once had to have an automobile
accident victim client call Mary Bono's office to get help since Medicare
had delayed issuing a final lien letter for 5 months. The help of the
Congressional office helped. Contact Barry Regar APLC for all personal
injury and insurance claims occurring in Palm Springs, Palm Desert, Indio,
or anywhere in the Coachella Valley
Posted By
Barry Regar APLC
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