Settling Medical Liens
If you were injured in a car accident, you would not have to pay for your medical bills. Why should you, just because you were riding a motorcycle? Don’t let the bulk of your motorcycle injury settlement be used to pay your medical bills.
This is the part where I really earn my fee as a motorcycle accident lawyer by trying to pay as little as possible from your settlement money to reimburse money paid for your medical bills. Some lawyers settle medical liens for 66.66%, while some lawyers feel successful when they are able to settle medical liens for 50%. I try harder. Although past results cannot predict future results and facts differ in each case, I have settled medical liens for 5% and even 0%! Below is a copy of a letter showing a medical lien settlement for only $1,600 (5% of the $32,000 hospital lien asserted by GHI). I was also able to get another $1,000 medical coverage for my client to pay the medical lien settlement. The result is that I only had to deduct $600 from my client’s motorcycle injury settlement!
Motorcycle accidents often involve serious injuries with medical bills in the range of $25,000-$750,000. Your medical bills will be paid either by your health insurance company, Medicare, Medicaid, or New York State. Whichever entity pays your medical bills, they will want to be reimbursed from your motorcycle accident settlement.
As soon as medical bills are generated, the medical billing codes are run through software looking for billing codes that indicate treatment for trauma related injuries. When these billing codes are found, an investigation begins to find your lawyer and the insurance company for the car which hit your motorcycle so a lien letter can be sent to both your lawyer and the insurance company.
This is the most complicated and unique part of a motorcycle accident case. Lien law is complicated and frequently changing. Additionally, because there is no-fault coverage for injuries sustained in car accidents and no-fault is not entitled to a lien, these issues are not encountered by lawyers in car accidents. However, issues involving medical liens occur with every motorcycle accident and many lawyers are not familiar with these issues.
Some of these issues are peculiar to Suffolk County motorcycle accidents where I may be able to refuse to pay medicaid liens. Some private health insurance plans are no longer allowed to assert a lien against your personal injury settlement from a Long Island motorcycle accident, but self funded ERISA health insurance plans can assert a lien and seek to be reimbursed from your settlement.
If you were injured in a car accident, you would not have to pay for your medical bills. Why should you, just because you were riding a motorcycle? I will fight to keep your motorcycle injury settlement from being used to pay your medical lien.
Call Phil Franckel right now for a free – no obligation consultation
1-800-HURT-911
1-800-487-8911