Personal Injury Subrogation

Brooks Schuelke

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Many personal injury victims have health insurance. And most health insurance policies have a subrogation clause. The clause typically says that if the company pays medical expenses that are caused by a third party's negligence or other conduct, then the health insurance company is entitled to be reimbursed for the expenses it pays in any resulting settlement or lawsuit. While the notion makes some sense, the problem arises when there are not enough proceeds to go around and when the victim bears the entire cost of attorneys' fees and litigation expenses to get the recovery. In these situations, the insurance company often takes far more than its fair share of the recovery.

Why am I posting this? Yesterday's Wall Street Journal has a great article that highlights the dangers of subrogation claims in personal injury cases. Everyone interested in personal injury matters should review the article.