As a Charlotte personal injury attorney, I am attentive to numerous personal injury clients who are Medicare recipients. If you’ve been in an accident or had an injury resulting from an accident, there may be a Medicare lien upon any funds you recover in settlement of that injury.
Medicare Reimbursements
Typically, for a Medicare recipient, Medicare is contributing payments for medical services related to any injury the Medicare recipient has suffered. When the Medicare recipient settles with an insurance company for proceeds related to the injury, the personal injury attorney must take steps to confirm the amount of reimbursement Medicare is entitled to.
There Is No Deadline
While you can wait until you have your case settled to reach out to Medicare, that is not the standard procedure. Medicare takes months to respond and there is no deadline on their response, so personal injury attorneys reach out very early on in the process to try to determine how much of the proceeds are due to Medicare. This also helps the client decide whether the amount being offered by the insurance company is fair in their minds—the Medicare lien affects the net amount of money going to the client.
Medicare Hold Back Option
If you receive proceeds from a personal injury settlement and still have not confirmed Medicare liens, your personal injury attorney may be open to disbursing to you all of the proceeds minus the potential Medicare liens. Then, once the Medicare liens are confirmed, the attorney can repay Medicare and disburse the remainder to you.
If you have questions about a personal injury in Charlotte, North Carolina, or have questions about Medicare liens, please feel free to call 704.749.7747 to speak to an attorney today. We’re here to help.