Why Consider Medicare in Workers Compensation Settlements?
Though not the norm in Montana, some workers’ compensation settlements close entitlement to future medical benefits in situations where the claimant may be entitled to Medicare or may become entitled to Medicare in the future. Other settlements resolve disputes over past medical expenses in situations where Medicare may have already paid some of those expenses. Although federal law has long considered a workers’ compensation insurer, or self-insured employer, primarily responsible for medical expenses associated with compensable injuries (42 U.S.C. 1395y), the Medicare system has previously lacked the necessary information and infrastructure to rigorously enforce Medicare’s right not to absorb workers’ compensation medical costs. CMS reports that in 1999, the General Accounting Office estimated that, since its inception, Medicare has paid 40 billion dollars in medical costs that were the primary responsibility of other insurance systems. Since 2000, the Medicare system has been develop
Related Questions
- Where a workers compensation claim settled prior to January 1, 2006, can the injured party use the Medicare Set-aside funds to pay for prescription drug expenses related to the workers= compensation injury?
- Does CMS propose that a Medicare Set-aside be established in situations that involve both a workers compensation and a liability claim?
- Does Medicare have Alien@ rights against a workers compensation or liability settlement?
