Subrogation

Posted: Mon Feb 22, 2010 11:42 pm Post Subject:

It sounds to me like you asked for an amount from the at fault parties carrier and signed a release for this amount. Your health carrier is now coming to you for repayment. If your health carrier has not been paid, then yes you owe them money. Your settlement from the other parties carrier is between you and them. You still owe your heath carrier for the amount they paid as they have a right to any collection you make on your claim.

If you signed a release and did not figure in the money owed to the health carrier you could try to work a deal with your carrier to pay a reduced amount. Or you could just not pay them. If you don't pay them, they may file suit against you in order to collect.

When you settled with the other carrier, you should have included the amount your health carrier spent on medical bills.

Posted: Tue Feb 23, 2010 01:14 am Post Subject:

So my attorney and I do all the work and the insurance company collects the reward. That sure doesn't sound fair. We only put in the amounts I spent out of pocket. I thought subrogation was the right for them to sue the other party or settle with them not me. It would have cost me less not to have filed a suit and just walked away.

Posted: Tue Feb 23, 2010 01:29 am Post Subject:

What.... and attorney did not know that you'd be required to pay back your health carrier? If so, I'd say you may have ground for a bad faith claim against your attorney.

The insurance company did not "collect a reward"... either they made an offer your accepted or you made a demand that they accepted. It was not their fault... especially if you had legal representation. That is why you pay an attorney 33% of the settlement. I'd call your attorney and ask him/her why he/she did not include your health carriers bills in the demand. I find it _very_ hard to believe that they were not. My guess is perhaps they were but it was never clearly explained to you that you'd need to pay part of your money back to the health carrier.

Posted: Tue Feb 23, 2010 02:42 am Post Subject:

We only put in the amounts I spent out of pocket.

If so, I'd say you may have ground for a bad faith claim against your attorney.

My guess is perhaps they were but it was never clearly explained to you that you'd need to pay part of your money back to the health carrier.

Posted: Tue Feb 23, 2010 08:35 am Post Subject:

I agree with tcope. I bet that things were not explained by your attorney. He gets his 33%, the medical providers/medical insurance get theirs and you get whats left. I would also guess that you ended up with the least amount of the three parties. Not much you can do now except discuss it with your attorney. If the medical bills were not included, you may have a case against the attorney. If they were included, contact your medical insurance carrier and work something out. Many times, medical carriers will settle for pennies on the dollar just to collect something. This is really true when they are trying to collect from and individual and not another insurance company.

Posted: Tue Feb 23, 2010 04:42 pm Post Subject:

Thank you for the help. When I was asked by the attorney how much I spent on medical, I gave him my Visa slips on what I paid of doctors, lost time from work and vehicle damage not paid for. BCBS didn't send in any bills until after we agreed to settle with auto insurance company. They want 12K of my settlement, these costs were not included anywhere since they never said squat until the end. I will contact my attorney again to see what recourse I have.

Posted: Tue Feb 23, 2010 04:53 pm Post Subject:

I've been handling injury claims for about 20 years now. I've _never_ seen a demand from an attorney containing just VISA receipts. I doubt this is what was submitted to the insurance company (how would they know that medical treatment was related to the accident).

Posted: Tue Feb 23, 2010 05:11 pm Post Subject:

I will contact my attorney again to see what recourse I have.

Posted: Tue Feb 23, 2010 08:54 pm Post Subject:

I gave him the doctor bills that went with the visa slips and my missed work slips. I just did not get copies of what my health insurance company paid for. I didn't think that was my job, plus they never said anything about make sure you collect for us. I guess I should have gone to law school before hiring an attorney. I think most honest people only try to collect for what they paid for and not other peoples expenses. I could fully understand paying them if I asked for the money for those bills too, but I didn't.

Posted: Tue Feb 23, 2010 09:09 pm Post Subject:

If your attorney sent the doctor's bills along with your receipts and docs for time off work then the original doctor bills were considered or should have been considered as part of the settlement. I see it still laying at the feet of your attorney for not explaining that out of the settlement the medical insurance carrier would need to be paid back. Will it have changed your settlement ----most likely no. The only thing it may have done is you may have held out for more ---- which you may or may not have gotten.

Again, I bet they were considered.....it was just not explained to you by your attorney that some of your money was going to have to go to them. As for BCBS waiting until now for the money, someone may not have originally caught it at their office that it was an auto accident. But it does not change the fact that they are due that money back, per your contract (or any medical insurance contract I've read).