Liability Insurance is coverage that offers protection against claims asserting that an owner's negligence or inappropriate action resulted in bodily injury or property damage to another party. Specific types of liability claims include: Auto, General Liability, Homeowners, Product, Professional, Marine, Boat, Train and Truck.
Although many liability cases can involve minor bodily injuries such as dog bites, slip and falls and broken bones, there are also severe injuries that are permanent and disabling, resulting, for example, from a serious automobile or train accident. Anyone injured in these ways can benefit from payments being made over time to cover future medical expenses or by monthly payments to fill the gaps that result from decreased earning capacity.
Structured settlements in liability cases also offer valuable financial protection when a case involves a child and the money is not needed until a later date. For example, a college education fund allows funds to grow until the anticipated date for starting school. Whatever future expenses you can anticipate can be planned for by developing a periodic payment plan now.
The Medicare Secondary Payer Act was enacted to preserve the financial integrity of Medicare, mainly in response to insurers being perceived as shifting the burden of being the primary payer onto Medicare when settling claims for medical benefits. Medicare Set-Aside Accounts (MSA's) are not required for Liability cases. Only Medicare claims for services provided prior to settlement are required to be settled and repaid. However, there cannot be a shift to Medicare for future medical care if payment has been made or can reasonably be expected to be made under a liability insurance policy plan.
MSA's are one of many methods to satisfy Medicare's requirement that future medical costs must be addressed. Future injury-related Medicare-covered expenses should be forecasted and documented within the settlement and funded using the most cost effective method, a structured settlement.
That is where the expertise of EPS Settlements Group and Medivest comes in. We have teamed up to offer a comprehensive solution to Medicare compliance for liability settlements, MediSolutions©. For detailed information, please contact your EPS Consultant.