The settlement of a case does not end our duty to seek justice for our clients.
This is a story of duty, persistence, and teamwork. Our client is a kidney transplant recipient who suffered a motor vehicle accident in October 2016. Although his injuries were soft tissue, there were extensive tests run to ensure that the impact did not worsen his general condition and the status of his transplant. He came to our office after we settled his case, 18 months earlier because the Medicare imposed a lien on his SSDI payments as a result of the soft tissue care for which we had represented him. We had settled the case for $25,000.00, reduced our fee based on the limits of the case, and disbursed the rest to our client. Meanwhile Medicare had begun deducting what it considered to be a debt owed from treatment following the automobile accident. If it were related to that, then Medicare might be right. If not, then it would be considered treatment resulting from his transplant and therefore, there would not be a Medicare link.
He was unable to knowledgeably address the issue with Medicare, but then our firm had been thorough in making sure that Medicare was aware of our representation before we settled the MVA, and we had sought lien amount prior to settlement. As every plaintiff’s attorney should know, before settlement of a tort claim, liens need to be identified. In this case the Medicare debt exceeded what had been disbursed, and Medicare had begun deducting two thirds of his monthly SSDI payments.
Although we had done everything required under the law, I felt that our office should write to CMS and find out first of all what the basis for this almost $25,000 debt which was being deducted from his monthly SSDI payment of $750, and how this debt was calculated and what was not related and why CMS did not comply with our requests by letter. We sent a letter to Medicare and ultimately, we received conflicting responses. However, because of teamwork in our office, one of the legal assistants called CMS for an explanation as to the different responses to our letter, particularly why this debt had been imposed when we complied with Medicare requirements three years earlier. Ultimately, everything was resolved, and CMS waived any debt that might have existed in the case. The photo attached to this blog is a photo of the very happy person after we’ve received the news from Medicare that they would not be deducting any more benefits from his monthly benefit checks.
Again, a sense of duty, persistence and teamwork resolved this issue for the client who had not been a client for a couple of years. Obviously, there was no charge for this, and we were very happy to resolve the issue presented by the lack of responsiveness of Medicare. In my mind, this is just another example of the level of care that I try to instill in all the employees so that we make sure that all the clients get all the benefits that they’re entitled to and that we resolve whatever residual problems may result from a case, whether it is settled or an active case.
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