If you need mesothelioma treatment, getting healthcare is your top priority. Your goal in seeking mesothelioma treatment is to try to save your life. For as long as possible. And to make sure that you do not suffer more than you need to so you can enjoy the time remaining to you to the fullest extent possible.
But your health insurance company is looking at it all from a different angle. The money angle. They know you developed mesothelioma because you were exposed to asbestos – most likely through your job or the job of a family member who unwittingly brought asbestos fibers into the home on their work clothes. They also know that if you have a high-powered law firm like Kazan Law fighting to obtain justice for the harm that was done to you by exposing you to lethal asbestos without your knowledge or consent, you may stand to gain a big settlement. And they want a piece of it. They believe it is only fair that they will be reimbursed for what they are paying to cover your medical expenses. This is what is known as a healthcare lien or medical lien.
You may think that your health insurance will completely cover your medical care expenses for mesothelioma treatment just as they would pay for any other type of medical care you need. But that is not how it works when you file a personal injury lawsuit.
When your health insurance pays your medical bills – which for mesothelioma treatment may become quite high – they have to fork over a considerable amount and suffer a financial loss. So your health insurance company believes they have a claim against whoever is responsible just like you do. But their claim transfers to you when you receive a settlement from the responsible party because you are partly receiving compensation for medical bills that your health insurance company and not you actually had to pay.
No matter what kind of health insurance you have, reimbursing your insurance company for medical care in this type of situation is somewhere in the fine print of your policy. Be sure to contact your attorney and have them negotiate the medical bills for you. That is what we do for our clients. We make sure by going through the medical bills line by line that our clients do not get stuck with bills that have been inflated in anticipation of a settlement. We also remind the medical providers that they are required by law to help pay the legal costs of obtaining a settlement for reimbursement. This often leads to a reduction in medical bills that we always pass along to our client. So starting with medical expenses that initially could total over $100,000, our client may wind up paying only $30,000. Medicare raises another set of conditions that we will review for you in another post soon.