The Two Major Obstacles To Managing Your Personal Injury Medical Bills

Bill Allen | April 14, 2014 | Gainesville Personal Injury Law News

Personal injuries are devastating to experience because not only can they cause severe pain, extended time loss, overwhelming stress, emotional heartache, and significant lifestyle shifts, but also, they can result in unbearable financial burdens due to exorbitant medical bills. Addressing these personal injury medical bills can be even more taxing when insurance companies invoke their right of subrogation or when hospitals claim liens for unpaid balances.

Unsuspecting victims will probably not have the know-how to combat the penny-pinching tactics of these large corporations, but highly trained and experienced personal injury attorneys such as those at the personal injury law firm in Gainesville and Ocala of the Allen Law Firm will. Negotiating your personal injury medical bills with insurance companies and hospitals is a problematic venture that you should not attempt on your own, and this detailed explanation of subrogation and liens will prove further why it is best to leave these issues in the hands of your personal injury attorney as they fight for your settlement.

Leaving Insurance Subrogation To Your Personal Injury Attorney

Charges on personal injury medical bills can reach outrageous heights, and victims are often left feeling more helpless to recover from these charges than from their actual injury. Though there is a good chance that you will receive a monetary sum if you have suffered a personal injury in the wake of the negligence of others, until you obtain your settlement, your personal injury medical bills will most likely be paid by your auto or health insurance, including Medicare and Medicaid. While your insurance company is legally obligated to pay your personal injury medical bills for the period of time in which you receive medical care, due to subrogation language, the insurance company can actually require you reimburse them for the expenses they covered on your behalf.

Subrogation is the legal and contractually supported action of the insurance company to request repayment for any medical expenses they may have paid for your medical treatment, and such action can add additional, uncomfortable pressure to your life. If you were not at fault in the accident that caused your injuries, then your insurance company should eventually be partially or fully recompensed by the at-fault party’s insurance company or personal funds. However, if your insurance company is only partially reimbursed, or if you were at fault, then your insurance company could turn to you to foot the rest of the medical bills.

If your insurance company decides to subrogate, it is essential to seek the assistance of a personal injury lawyer. A personal injury lawyer will be able to know and navigate the rules that govern when insurance companies can subrogate and how much money they can demand from your settlement for your personal injury medical bills.

Personal injury attorneys are aware that the insurance companies often pay hundreds of dollars less for the hospital’s services than what the hospital would have charged you. Therefore, when the insurance company subjects you to subrogation, you are only responsible to pay them back what the hospital actually received from them; again, not the fees the hospital originally listed on your bills. However, a good lawyer should be able to provide you with the same courtesy the insurance companies received from the hospital and negotiate to reduce the amount the insurance company will accept from you.

With the help of an experienced personal injury attorney, your personal injury medical bills could be whittled down to something much more manageable for you to pay, or to nothing at all. Hiring an attorney to appropriately handle these issues for you will have a significant impact on the net amount of your total recovery from your settlement.

Leaving Hospital Liens To Your Personal Injury Attorney

All too often, the personal injuries inflicted upon you by any type of accident require emergency care. Thankfully, hospitals are required to treat your injuries regardless of your insurance status. However, if your health insurance will only pay part of the cost of your treatment, or if you do not have any health insurance at all, then the hospital would be allowed to claim a lien for any unpaid balances. A lien is a demand for repayment that is placed on your personal injury case.

Hospital liens can be very difficult to deal with for several reasons:

  • The charges hospitals claim can be excessively inflated and much more than any insurance company would pay.
  • Hospitals have statutory lien rights that do not obligate them to reduce their claims.
  • Hospitals can refuse to bill the insurer and insist on billing you.
  • Hospitals can try to recover from you the leftover balance of their charges if insurance only pays part of the bill.
  • Unaddressed hospital liens can delay your settlement from the at-fault party or insurance company.

When faced with a hospital lien, a personal injury lawyer is your best defense against big businesses trying to take advantage of you. Personal injury attorneys can even out the playing field for you with their advanced knowledge of these precarious legal situations.

Seasoned lawyers are equipped with the training that enables them to determine whether or not the hospital has complied with the proper statues that direct the legitimacy of liens. They can determine the best methods for lowering the hospital’s charges and even whether or not the lien can be released. Lien laws can be extremely complicated, but capable personal injury attorney can untangle them for you and ensure that you receive the maximum net recover from your settlement money.

Leaving Your Personal Injury Case To The Allen Law Firm

When you suffer a personal injury, you deserve assistance that commits to getting you back to normal, not getting you deeper into trouble. That is why the Allen Law Firm is here to tackle those overpriced personal injury medical bills and block all of the trick plays that hospitals and insurance companies try to use against you.

We know that most personal injury medical bills contain errors or fraudulent charges, and we also know that most personal injury victims do not need any more stress in their lives. Therefore, we will never leave you in the dust because we care more about people than unpaid balances.

If frightening personal injury medical bills are in your future, put the Allen Law Firm on your team before subrogation claims or hospital liens are handed to you so that you can be prepared to fight them.

Contact Our Personal Injury Law Firm in North Central Florida

If you need legal assistance, contact the Gainesville personal injury lawyers at Allen Law Firm at your nearest location to schedule a free consultation today.

We have two convenient locations in North Central Florida:

Allen Law Firm, P.A. – Gainesville office
2550 SW 76th St #150
Gainesville, FL 32608
(877) 255-3652

Allen Law Firm, P.A. – Ocala Office
112 S Pine Ave
Ocala, FL 34471
(352) 351-3258