Miner & Lemon Blog

Medicare Law throws obstacles in the way of personal injury settlements.

New Medicare Law Adds Additional Obstacles to

Personal Injury Victims and their Attorneys

A new Medicare law may make it more difficult for plaintiffs and defendants to settle personal injury claims.  In December of 2007 President Bush signed the “Medicare, Medicaid and SCHIP Extension Act of 2007” into law.  The law requires the providers of liability insurance, and others, to determine the Medicare entitlement of all plaintiffs and report certain information about those claims to the Secretary of Health and Human Services.  This legislation reinforces the intention of the federal government to ensure that Medicare is the payer of last resort.  It is part of an ongoing transformation of Medicare reimbursement policy and practice and creates new challenges for lawyers and their clients in personal injury cases by adding another potentially time-consuming lawyer to the settlement process.

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