Health Insurer Liens after a Personal Injury

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Health Insurer Liens after a Personal Injury

Posted On : Jan-25-2012 | seen (596) times | Article Word Count : 543 |

This article gives information regarding the medical lien issues after a personal injury.

Personal injury clients often need money immediately to pay for medical costs. Unfortunately, it takes time for a Rhode Island personal injury attorney to secure financial recovery for you. Health insurance companies or other sources may provide you with short-term funding to cover your immediate health care costs. In return for this money, the contributor may require you to sign an agreement creating a lien on your future financial recovery. This medical or health insurance lien creates a responsibility for the victim of a personal injury to repay money they were lent for medical expenses once their attorney secures a recovery.

While a medical lien holder may demand repayment of a medical lien from your entire settlement, they may not be entitled to it. There are rules in place to protect victims from being victimized by entities that lend money for emergency medical expenses in return for reimbursement once the personal injury claim is settled. Since different rules apply for Medicare and ERISA liens than for regular health insurer liens, this article's general discussion does not cover these kinds of liens.

Medical lien holders may only be entitled to part of your injury settlement. Personal injury settlements do not only compensate medical costs. These settlements may include payment for other injuries such as lost wages, pain and suffering, and punitive damages as well as medical costs. A medical lien holder may only receive payment for the portion of your settlement earmarked for medical expenses.

The amount of money payable to a medical lien holder may be further reduced based on certain circumstances. Your payment could be reduced based upon a finding of comparative negligence. Such a reduction would be applied to the proportion of money you would receive for medical expenses, which would in turn reduce the amount of money required to pay a health insurer lien. An attorney's fees may also reduce health insurer liens. A medical lien may not exceed 1/3 of the entire personal injury payment if a Rhode Island personal injury lawyer is involved. If a lawyer is not involved, a medical lien may recover up to 1/2 the entire personal injury payment.

I cannot overemphasize the importance of having an experienced injury attorney to structure your settlement to accommodate your health insurer liens and other damages.

Below are two Rhode Island Supreme Court personal injury cases that demonstrate this point:

- Rivera v. Gagnon, 847 A. 2d 280 (R.I. 2004): A personal injury attorney failed to have the defendant's insurer specify that their settlement contract covered "pain and suffering only" damages. Since the defendant health insurer held a medical lien greater than this settlement amount, the personal injury victim ended up with nothing to pay her other costs.

- CGU Ins. Co. v. DeCaro, 791 A. 2d 480 (R.I. 2002): A personal injury victim that settled her claim for less than the statutory amount required for uninsured/underinsured motorist, as provided by Rhode Island General Law § 27-7-2.1(g), failed to receive this additional coverage from her insurance company to cover the medical and other expenses she suffered from an injury.

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<h1>Health Insurer Liens after a Personal Injury</h1> Author: <a href='http://www.articleseen.com/profile_Prasad Josh.aspx'>Prasad Josh</a> Personal injury clients often need money immediately to pay for medical costs. Unfortunately, it takes time for a Rhode Island personal injury attorney to secure financial recovery for you. Health insurance companies or other sources may provide you with short-term funding to cover your immediate health care costs. In return for this money, the contributor may require you to sign an agreement creating a lien on your future financial recovery. This medical or health insurance lien creates a responsibility for the victim of a personal injury to repay money they were lent for medical expenses once their attorney secures a recovery.

While a medical lien holder may demand repayment of a medical lien from your entire settlement, they may not be entitled to it.  There are rules in place to protect victims from being victimized by entities that lend money for emergency medical expenses in return for reimbursement once the personal injury claim is settled.  Since different rules apply for Medicare and ERISA liens than for regular health insurer liens, this article's general discussion does not cover these kinds of liens.

Medical lien holders may only be entitled to part of your injury settlement.  Personal injury settlements do not only compensate medical costs.  These settlements may include payment for other injuries such as lost wages, pain and suffering, and punitive damages as well as medical costs.   A medical lien holder may only receive payment for the portion of your settlement earmarked for medical expenses.

The amount of money payable to a medical lien holder may be further reduced based on certain circumstances. Your payment could be reduced based upon a finding of comparative negligence.  Such a reduction would be applied to the proportion of money you would receive for medical expenses, which would in turn reduce the amount of money required to pay a health insurer lien.  An attorney's fees may also reduce health insurer liens.  A medical lien may not exceed 1/3 of the entire personal injury payment if a Rhode Island personal injury lawyer is involved.  If a lawyer is not involved, a medical lien may recover up to 1/2 the entire personal injury payment.

I cannot overemphasize the importance of having an experienced injury attorney to structure your settlement to accommodate your health insurer liens and other damages.

Below are two Rhode Island Supreme Court personal injury cases that demonstrate this point:

- Rivera v. Gagnon, 847 A. 2d 280 (R.I. 2004): A personal injury attorney failed to have the defendant's insurer specify that their settlement contract covered "pain and suffering only" damages.  Since the defendant health insurer held a medical lien greater than this settlement amount, the personal injury victim ended up with nothing to pay her other costs.

- CGU Ins. Co. v. DeCaro, 791 A. 2d 480 (R.I. 2002): A personal injury victim that settled her claim for less than the statutory amount required for uninsured/underinsured motorist, as provided by Rhode Island General Law § 27-7-2.1(g), failed to receive this additional coverage from her insurance company to cover the medical and other expenses she suffered from an injury.
About the Author: Mike Bottaro is a <a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.bottarolaw.com">RI personal injury attorney</a> and <a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.bottarolaw.com/practice-areas/car-accidents/">RI car accident lawyer</a> who handles a wide range of injury cases in Rhode Island and SE Massachusetts. He can be reached at 1-866-LAW-9700.
 Article Source: <a href='http://www.articleseen.com/Article_Health-Insurer-Liens-after-a-Personal-Injury_139208.aspx'> http://www.articleseen.com/Article_Health Insurer Liens after a Personal Injury_139208.aspx</a>

Article Source : http://www.articleseen.com/Article_Health Insurer Liens after a Personal Injury_139208.aspx

Author Resource :
Mike Bottaro is a RI personal injury attorney and RI car accident lawyer who handles a wide range of injury cases in Rhode Island and SE Massachusetts. He can be reached at 1-866-LAW-9700.

Keywords : Rhode Island personal injury attorney, Rhode Island personal injury lawyer, RI personal injury attorney, RI car accident lawy,

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