Negligence Law Suits = Liens

When we first speak to a potential client, or concerned family member, we always ask:

o "Is your loved receiving Medicare or Medicaid benefits?"

o "Is your health insurance provided by your employer?"

o "Were you injured on the job?"



These may seem like strange and somewhat irrelevant questions but they are essential for determining whether to file a lawsuit.

Medicare

If you are sixty-five years old or older, then you are entitled to Medicare insurance coverage through the federal government. If so, and often without your knowledge or notice, Medicare will be billed for and pay for a portion of your medical care and treatment. Medicare may even pay for a portion of your nursing home stay. If so, any lawsuit you file where you seek repayment for medical care necessary as a result of another's negligence, Medicare has a right to seek repayment for the services they paid for on your behalf.

For example - Edna, age 65, falls on an open can of soup at her local grocery store. The store manager calls 911 when Edna is unable to walk and the ambulance arrives. The rescue squad takes Edna to Local Community Hospital where Edna is evaluated in the emergency room. She is admitted to the hospital when her doctors realize she has fractured her right hip and requires surgery. Edna has surgery and two days after surgery she is discharged to a nursing home for rehab after the hip surgery.

If Edna files a lawsuit against the grocery store for negligence and personal injury and recovers $25,000, Medicare will seek repayment of any monies paid on her behalf for injuries related to the fall. Under Federal law, Medicare does not have to provide Edna notice that they plan on seeking repayment. See 42 CFR