What is the Impact on Settling Workers Compensation and Medicares Future Interest?
For workers’ compensation cases, the impact of these Acts upon settling workers’ compensation cases is negligible because since 2001, the Medicare Set-Aside system has been in place, under which the participants close their cases and bind Medicare and its future interests to the figure that the parties propose as the claimant’s future medical costs. As you know, under the Set-Aside procedure, Medicare formally reviews the claimant’s future medical costs, and if Medicare approves of the sum, the parties place the sum in a separate account that the claimant taps to pay his medical expenses for his life time. The Set-Aside amount about which Medicare agrees, binds the agency. How Will the Medicare Secondary Payer Act and SCHIP Extension Act Impact Liability Cases? The SCHIP Extension Act transforms the landscape of a liability settlement where a Medicare claimant is involved. Liability carriers must now report all settlements involving a Medicare beneficiary. This is compounded by the fac
