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Dealing with Medicare and Medicaid Liens in 3rd Party and General Liability Cases

We had the honor of attending the 2016 Michigan Association of Justice (MAJ) annual convention last Friday (4/15/16) at the beautiful Book Cadillac hotel in the "D"!

The presentation by attorney Donna MacKenzie of the firm Olsman, MacKenzei and Wallace on "Dealing with Medicare and Medicaid Liens in 3rd Party and General Liability Cases" was especially informative. 

We have been in the structured settlement business for over 15 years and we have been talking about this subject for about 10 years!

Based on Ms. MacKenzie's presentation I am HAPPY TO REPORT that there is STILL NO BASIS for a Medicare set aside in 3rd Party and General Liability Cases.  A Medicare Set Aside is when part of the recovery in a physical injury case is "set aside" and can only be used to pay for future medical expenses, which are a result of the injury, that Medicare would normally cover.  Medicare does not even have any mechanism or structure to process set asides in liability cases at this time!  However, Ms. MacKenzie also stressed that this doesn't mean they won't require a set aside in the future.  

Ms. MacKenzie recommended obtaining a letter from a physician if future medical expenses will not be needed for the claimant.

www.whitehousellc.com

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