Negotiating a Medical Lien Against Your Car Accident Settlement
By Christopher Hoffmann
Mar. 18, 2019 7:25a
The topic of medical liens can be quite controversial, but many states have laws in place that ensure the Health Management Organizations can impose them without issues. Missouri is one such state.
Liens are reinforced to recover the costs of medical bills on behalf of the person insured. If you’ve been injured in a car accident, then your HMO, Medicaid, or Medicare probably paid for your medical bills at first. Then, you’ll have to reimburse them at least partially with the money recovered from your damages claim. The process is quite tricky, but an experienced
St. Louis car accident attorney can guide you through all the legal intricacies.
What Does the Law Say?
A hospital, clinic, or other medical professionals in Missouri can impose a lien on personal injury claims. Victims will also receive a written notice of a lien by a holder. That is mandatory by law. The notice must include information about the victim, the incident, as well as the names of the party at fault for the accident.
However, apart from medical provider liens, you can expect additional liens that can affect you. For instance, Medicare, Medicaid, certain employer-sponsored plan, and others can also apply liens. If you ever face this problem, then it’s best to contact an experienced St.Louis car accident attorney.
Negotiating the Lien
If you want to reach a compromise, then the first step you should take is contacting your lien holder. Again before deciding to do this on your own, it is best to speak with an experienced attorney. In fact, it’s always preferable to call the insurance company to negotiate the lien than to wait for them to get in touch with you. That will help you keep a better portion of thesettlement from the injury claim.
Remember to give them a good reason for adjusting the lien. Insurers won’t settle on a low price out of the kindness of their hearts. You must give them an uncontestable argument to why they should do so if you want a shot at succeeding.
There are some reasons that nobody can argue with when negotiating the lien. For instance, if the victim needs the settlement money to account for unemployment caused by the accident, then it’s very likely to get a low lien. Other good arguments can include:
Prolonged treatment for your injuries;
A portion of the settlement is granted forpain and suffering;
You need a contingency in case of medical complications.
However, negotiating the lien does not mean you have a green light to lie to the holder just to lower the amount. That can be considered fraud in some cases, which will bring forward more legal problems.
Filling a personal injury claim is a rather complicated process in itself, but when you’re also dealing with liens, the matters can worsen. Because of this, it’s best to speak with an experienced St. Louis car accident lawyer to help you both for filing the injury claim as well as negotiate the lien with the holder to increase your chances of remaining with most of your settlement money. Give us a call 24/7 at(314) 361-4242 for a FREE case evaluation.