A medical lien can affect the amount of compensation you collect from a personal injury lawsuit. When you receive treatment, medical care providers or insurance companies may place a lien on your settlement or verdict. This gives them a claim against the compensation you ultimately receive.
Medical liens are common in Florida. The Tampa injury lawyers at Diaco Law can help you understand how these liens may affect your claim and what your rights are. Contact us to schedule a free consultation with a Florida medical malpractice lawyer to get personalized support or read on to learn how medical liens work.
What is a Medical Lien?
A medical lien is a legal claim or security interest that a healthcare provider makes against your future settlement proceeds. Care providers treat you without collecting full payment, but put a lien on your settlement or verdict award.
Providers often place liens on your future compensation so they can try to collect more money than the lower negotiated rates insurance companies pay them for services. Health insurance companies also place liens on your payout to recover the money they spent on your treatment.
Since you recover compensation for medical bills in injury claims, the premise is that your treating providers should be able to collect this money. The lien generally must be paid before you collect the remainder of your settlement.
Who can File a Medical Lien?
Typically, medical care providers who treat your accident-related injuries can file a medical lien. Common examples include:
- Hospitals: Florida hospitals often put liens on your settlement to try to recover full gross costs of emergency care instead of just the lower negotiated rates insurers pay
- Health insurance companies and government insurance providers: If Medicare, Medicaid, or a private health insurer pays for your medical care related to your accident, the insurer can place a lien on your damage award to try to recover the money spent.
- Doctors and medical facilities: Any provider who treats you on a “letter of protection” can hold a lien on your recovery. A letter of protection means they agree to wait for payment until your case is resolved.
How Medical Liens Work and Why They Matter
Medical liens can be beneficial to you in some ways because they allow you to receive treatment for your accident without having to pay out-of-pocket medical expenses.
If you suffered substantial damages and need expensive treatment, this can be invaluable, especially if you have a large deductible or limited health insurance coverage.
However, these liens also reduce the amount of your settlement you get to keep. Lienholders generally get priority payout, which means that when you receive your settlement money or damage awards after a successful court verdict, your attorney is legally and ethically required to satisfy valid liens first.
Those with liens on your damage award or settlement are paid before you are, and you keep the remainder. So if you received $200,000 in settlement funds and there were $100,000 in liens held by healthcare providers, you would subtract this $100,000 from your settlement, along with other expenses like attorneys’ fees.
How to Handle Medical Liens
Medical liens are complicated and can reduce your net recovery, sometimes substantially.
An experienced attorney can help you to try to negotiate with insurance companies and healthcare providers to try to reduce the amount of the lien so you can bring more of your money home to cover your other losses.
To find out more, contact Diaco Law today to learn how our Tampa medical malpractice lawyers can work with you to minimize liens and maximize the money you recover.