Does an Insurance Company Automatically Have a Lien?

Does an Insurance Company Automatically Have a Lien?

Subrogation rights are rarely absolute. But the process can be convoluted as you figure out whether federal law or state law governs your case’s health insurance liens. From Medicare to private liens here are some of the potential scenarios:  Medicare → Federal law;  Medicaid → State law (that is directed by a federal law in…

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State Law and Plan Language: What to Look for in Lien Resolution

Lien resolution starts with either a series of laws (like Medicare liens and Medicaid liens) or relies on plan language (like Private liens, ERISA liens, and more). For private liens, there are tens of thousands of different plans based on different state laws and different contracts – or plan language.   If you know how…

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Anti-Subrogation: When Health Insurance has no Lien Right

Subrogation rights can be limited by state law. In fact, eight states are considered “Anti-Subrogation” states with one more effectively anti-subrogation. Those states are: Arizona  Connecticut  Kansas  Missouri  New Jersey  New York  North Carolina  Virginia  Georgia* – essentially anti-subrogation through a strong made whole doctrine that cannot be overridden by contract language    Most simply,…

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MORE with MASSIVE

MASSIVE’s Mass Tort Team eliminates a $114,058.70 lien for a 2004 hip replacement.  Our Mass Tort team was recently retained by a Kentucky Law Firm to resolve a self-funded ERISA lien handled by United Healthcare.  Over time, the plaintiffs’ bones and joints around the hip were infected as metal shards were entering the bloodstream.  The…

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Liens without Plan Language

Lien resolution often starts with one question: What does the plan language say? More specifically we ask if the private insurance lien (or even the ERISA lien) has contract language explaining its rules for subrogation and liens. Every once in a while we find lien holders and health insurers who tell us there isn’t plan…

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Anti-Subrogation States – Defeating a Lien Before it Exists

Sometimes, a lien never has to exist. Sometimes, the insurance company never stands a chance. And sometimes, a client keeps 100% of her net settlement. These times are most often settlements in anti-subrogation states – or states that statutorily refuse to allow subrogation, liens, or insurance reimbursement. The eight officially anti-subrogation states are: Arizona Connecticut…

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