Generally, when you have an injury case and health insurance has paid some of your medical bills, there is a (subrogation) right by the health insurance carrier to be repaid the monies toward the medical bills related to the accident. In the case of health insurance, the subrogation right is by contract and with medicare and medicaid the subrogation right is generally by statute or law. Obviously, if you are injured and do not have an injury case or if you do not pursue the injury case, then you do NOT have to repay health insurance. But this is where it is important to have a lawyer as what might seem like a fair settlement to someone that is handling the case on their own, may not be a good settlement if a greater amount is owed back to health insurance and if later on the injured person is sued by the health insurance or medicaid or medicare because they did not repay the monies that are due and owing.
Please call my personal injury law firm today for a consultation without charge. Drucker Law Offices has offices in Boca Raton (principal office), Coral Springs, Miami, Boynton Beach, Lake Worth and West Palm Beach. The phone numbers at the law firm are 561-483-9199 in Palm Beach County or 954-755-2120 in Broward County or 305-981-1561 in Miami-Dade County. I will gladly advise you on your rights following an accident, so please call today.
Every case is different and unique and should be judged based on its specific facts. Generally, in cases like referenced above, one needs to review the health insurance policy to see what is due and owing. Further, some policies are governed by state law and others by federal (ERISA) laws, so this is a particularly complicated area of the law which is known as collateral source payments. The legal discussion in this blog is intended to be general and should not to be construed as specific advice for a case or more importantly for your case. The goal of the blog is to give some information about a topic and to have you call the law firm for specific advise, if I were to take your case. A minor difference in the facts of the case in a fact pattern such as above could completely change the result. Also, this blog is, as the web site suggests, based on the laws of Florida and the laws of any other states or country could vary drastically from Florida.
