What is Subrogation – and How Subrogation Affects Personal Injury Claims.

When a person receives medical services as a result of an accident, the medical providers and/or the medical bill payors (e.g. medical insurance companies, Medicaid, Medicare, or Worker’s Compensation) almost always have what the law calls a “subrogation” claim on any monies that the injured person may end up collecting from the negligent party. In short, if the injured party gets compensated for the injury, the subrogation concept is that they essentially must pay these entities back for the medical bills or medical bills payments made by these entities. This subrogation area of personal injury law gets more complicated each day, with state statutes and federal statutes and medical insurance contracts getting more involved. Plaintiffs (and their lawyers) must be very careful to protect the subrogation interests of these entities – or they themselves can get sued in connection with the personal injury claim. It is very important for the client and the lawyer to identify and monitor the subrogation issues in the claim so there are no surprises when or after the client finally receives compensation.