When a personal injury case concludes by virtue of a verdict or settlement, calculations follow which include any outstanding medical bills or liens.
To the surprise of many claimants, health insurers and their agents often are among the enities seeking a piece of the pie. We often hear the question, " I pay my health insurance premiums why do they get anything from my settlement?"
The answer is that most health insurers now include so-called subrogation provisions in their insurance contracts. Subrogation is a concept that insurers are entitled to pursue a third party and or its insurer for any injury that happens to their insured which causes benefits to be paid.
For example if you are in a Maryland auto accident and go to the hospital as a consequence and your health insurer pays those bills, it is highly probable that your health insurer will start asking questions about getting repaid.
It is important not to ignore these inquiries as failure to deal with them in your settlement or verdict can result in penalties such as your insurer refusing future claim payments.
Many health insurers use an entity called Rawlings and Associates as a sort of clearinghouse for dealing with lawyers and claims and often Rawlings will accomodate requests for lien reductions.
