There is a sleeper issue out there involving Medicare liens in personal injury settlements. While it isn't a strictly California issue, it's going to have a big impact on the defense and settlement of some product liability and other personal injury cases in California and everywhere else.
The issue is this: Congress has enacted legislation (42 U.S.C. 1395y(b)(7) & (8)) requiring that every insurer or self-insured company that settles a personal injury case with a Medicare beneficiary submit an electronic report of the settlement to CMS, the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Administration, so that Medicare's recovery contractor can recover every last dime of the benefits it has paid. And if the recovery contractor can't get the money from the plaintiff, it's coming after the defendant or its insurer -- even if they've already paid the plaintiff.
Adams Nye, CalBizLit's law firm, has just published a White Paper: "Medicare Liens and Personal Injury Settlements -- What Every Insurer and Self-Insured Company Needs To Know." It's downloadable here, and I've added it to the list of White Papers over on the right hand column of this blog. Please download and distribute freely.
This is important enough I'm going to leave this post at the top of CalBizLit.com for the next week or so.
I am very pleased with the thought and don’t feel like adding anything in it. It a perfect answer.
Hazel Knight
Posted by: Personal Injury Lawyer | June 20, 2009 at 04:34 AM
Thanks for the link. It is a good read,and very informative.
Posted by: Ajlouny | July 29, 2009 at 09:20 PM
Thanks for the news. I hadn't heard about this development yet. Appreciate the update.
-Garett
Posted by: Car Accident Attorneys | December 06, 2009 at 10:15 AM