Do I Need To Pay Back The Health Insurance Company ?
You should be aware that often, if your medical bills were paid by health insurance of an employer’s health plan, the health insurance company or plan may want you to reimburse it out of any personal injury recovery. Your “insurance” turns out to be not insurance at all, but a “loan.” We have seen cases where the insurance companies hired lawyers to make the claims for them. What they don’t tell you is that this area of law, known as “reimbursement or subrogation” is actually quite complicated and is sometimes governed by a federal law called ERISA (The Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974). Your attorney must understand the implications of ERISA on your case.
There are other liens that may affect your total recovery in the case. If your bills were paid by Medicare, Medicaid, the United States Government (including “free” military care) you may be forced to pay back a portion of your settlement.
Further, if not handled properly, you may not ever have the right to Medicare payments in the future if you settle a claim that involves future medical expenses that Medicare may owe (The Medicare “Set Aside” Law).
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