Large medical bills are huge problem
Injured people are being “carjacked” by emergency rooms, according to this article published on Friday. Outrageous ER charges are piled on top of often ridiculously high hospital bills.
This price gouging happens way too often in Texas. Hospitals, doctors, X rays, MRIs and CT scans can easily cost $10,000, even $50,000. The at-fault driver may not have a huge insurance policy to pay for these bills, lost wages, pain and suffering, and other damages. And his company may not want to pay the injured victim(s), even if he does.
You might assume that your health insurance will pay these bills after your co-pay and that this won’t be a problem. But what you aren’t told by any one is that
- your Blue Cross or Medicare plan often refuses to pay the medical charges,
- the insurance carrier claims the ER was out of network — even though its hospital was in network — and is not paying,
- the health insurance company may pay the bill but demand repayment,
- the hospital may not even file the bill with Blue Cross in the first place, and/or
- the hospital may file a lien with the county clerk and refuse to negotiate the amount down to a reasonable amount.
So what is your best option if you have been hurt in an accident?
Hire a good personal injury lawyer
Of course, you can represent yourself. You can try to take on the hospital, emergency room, physicians, and health insurance company representatives and attorneys. But you won’t have much leverage or knowledge of the laws and strategy you need.
An experienced, aggressive lawyer will.
If you have been injured in an automobile accident and are about to hire a Fort Worth lawyer, ask to make sure that he will
— fight the hospital and other medical providers to save you thousands of dollars;
— make sure that the hospital, emergency department, and doctors file on your health insurance policy;
— negotiate with the hospital to reduce its lien;
— refuse to pay wrongfully filed liens from emergency rooms, air ambulances, physicians, and chiropractors;
— work with Medicare, Medicaid, workers compensation, quasi-workers compensation plans, Attorney General offices collecting past due child support, and other claimants; and
— fight your health insurance company when it demands reimbursement under a subrogation lien to save you even more money.
After all, the more money the lawyer can save you, the more money you will make.
Actually, you’ll make more, since there are no attorney’s fees deducted from the savings on medical bills (they are from the total settlement). There is no extra attorney’s fee for these services. And the recovery of money is tax-free to you. It’s a win-win-win.
Examples of Hospital Reductions That We Have Just Achieved
On Friday we forced a West Texas hospital to reduce its bill from $55,295.00 to only $5,000.00 after threatening to file a lawsuit. Our client had been seriously injured in a motorcycle collision when he negligently collided into the motorcycle in front of him and we were still able to collect the other rider’s entire insurance policy.
And in the last two months we have reduced one area hospital’s medical bills to three clients by these amounts:
- $25,742 to only $1,835 — saving our client $23,907,
- $39,493 to only $10,000 — saving our client $29,493, and
- $21,515 to only $7,000 — saving our client $14,515
We also reduced other bills charged to these clients so their total reductions were $94,000.
We are proud to have received this kind review from a client last week: “Mr Berenson and his staff were able to settle my case and save me thousands of dollars. I was being over charged for medical expenses related to a wreck that was not my fault and needed more treatment. He made sure I received the treatment and worked with the providers to reduce the amount owed. I’m glad I was referred to him and would recommend him to anyone needing representation.”
This office is focused from day one on obtaining the largest verdict or settlement for our clients, then getting their medical bills reduced to make them even more money.
Payment of huge medical bills can be a nightmare in auto and truck crash cases, even if you have a good health insurance policy.
We work hard to get this job done. This is one reason why so many injured car accident victims hire us.
Call us at 817-885-8000 or toll-free at 1-888-801-8585, or by clicking here, if you have any questions about your car or truck collision.