What is a lien on my personal injury case? Liens vs Health insurance

Some of this topic of Health Insurance vs. Liens is covered on our youtube channel here

If you’ve been in a car accident and you make a personal injury claim in Utah, you might hear the word “lien” from time to time. A lien is a fancy word that means that someone has a financial interest in your case. Just like a mortgage or judgment could be a lien against your house, there are other liens that can be added to your personal injury claim.

Liens might include hospital liens, health insurance subrogation liens, medicaid and medicare subrogation liens, and contract liens. When you are hurt because of the negligence of someone else, the at-fault person’s insurance should pay for your damages, including your medical bills. Unfortunately, while you are getting treatment and your claim is still pending, you usually have to wait a while to get paid, so it is important that you think carefully about how to pay for your treatment while you are waiting to be reimbursed.

The most important thing is for you to get the treatment you need so you can feel better and get your life back to normal, but it’s also important to figure out how you are going to pay for it. Reach out to a qualified personal injury attorney at www.jblegalutah.com for a consultation on your specific case.

The first part of your treatment after a car accident should be paid for by “PIP”, which is a small amount of health coverage on your own auto policy. You can read more about PIP here. PIP often won’t apply to other injuries like worksite injuries, dog bites, or slip and falls.

After PIP (usually $3,000) is all used up, you could potentially pay for your medical bills with cash, a credit card, health insurance, or use a lien.

If you paid cash or used a credit card, you would be reimbursed for the amount of bills that are related to your accident (up to the amount of insurance coverage available).

If you use your health insurance, your health insurance provider or medicaid or medicare would have a right to be reimbursed in the amount they have paid on your behalf if it turns out it was the other party’s fault and the treatment is related to your accident. But if you lose your case or if the treatment is not related, then the insurance company would not have a right to get reimbursed. It would be just like any other time you’ve used health insurance for treatment you need.

If the medical provider is willing to use a lien against the case, then you could wait to pay them back until your case is settled. The medical provider would have a lien against the case and they would get paid back once the case was over with.

Some of the Pros of using a lien:

1 - Most of the providers who are willing to offer liens will specialize in accident-related treatment.

2 - Many lien providers will refer you to specialists who can get you the treatment you need quickly and without extra hassle.

3 - Usually, lien providers are more willing to get involved in the auto-insurance claim if the carrier disputes some of the treatment.

4 - Sometimes, if it makes sense for everyone to get an early settlement, a lien provider might offer a discount to get the case settled sooner.

5 - most of the time, there would be no co-pay or deductible that you’d have to pay if you use a lien.

Some of the Cons of using a lien:

1 - If you lose your case, you will still have to pay back what you owe. Sometimes you can get the balance written off, but sometimes you can’t.

2 - Once in a while, the treatment can be more expensive that it would be if you paid cash up front. Many providers will give a cash discount.

3 - Sometimes, treatment provided on lien basis is scrutinized by auto insurance companies.

Some of the Pros of using health insurance

1 - If you end up losing the case, you don’t have to pay it back. So if there is a dispute about fault or if your treatment is much more than the total automobile insurance, health insurance can be the better choice.

2 - Health insurance networks can often lead to big contractual adjustments and other discounts. But this varies a lot on a case-by-case basis.

3 - Sometimes auto-insurance companies are more likely to agree to reimburse treatment that was covered by health insurance.

Some of the Cons of using health insurance

1 - Sometimes providers who bill health insurance don’t want to be involved in an auto-accident case, and they don’t want to have to testify or write letters.

2 - Sometimes, there is a lot of red tape that makes it harder to get the treatment you need.

3 - From time to time, a provider will want you to wait before going to a specialist.