Obama on Medical Malpractice Reform and Health Care
When is a medical provider required to accept Medicaid in an injury case?

Attorney fees and Medicaid lien cap in North Carolina personal injury cases

Just had a great straight forward question about the interaction of Medicaid Liens, Attorney Fees, and medical provider liens pursuant to NCGS 44-49-50.

QUESTION:  Is Medicaid's lien capped at one third of liability proceeds received or half of what is left over after attorney's fees?  In other words, if I am pro-rating a Medicaid lien with 44-49 liens and my fee is 25%, are they still sharing a third or are they sharing 37.5%?

ANSWER:  Medicaid gets no more than 1/3 of the total settlement.  Your attorney fees are irrelevant to Medicaid's share.   The most Medicaid can get is 1/3 of the settlement, even if you charge only 1 dollar as a fee.
 
Medicaid will prorate with NCGS 44-49/50 liens within their 1/3 share.  But remember that paying the parorata share of the 44-49/50 liens does not extinguish the balance of the medical bill.  The client still owes the balance after the prorata share unless you negotiate a "final payment"  compromise with the mediacl provider.  44-49/50 simply act as as a way to get the lawyer out of the middle and get the provider some money before they have to turn to a collection action to get it.
 
The 1/3 (or Medicaid's portion thereof) DOES take care of Medicaid, in full.

_________________________

Chris Nichols

www.NicholsTrialLAw.com

www.NicholsTrialLaw.com 1.800.906.5984

Comments

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Catherine Flowers

Fantastic job on the blog, Chris :) I'll be checking back in again! -Cat

Ohio personal injury lawyer

Nice blog you got right here. Would you be interested in exchanging links?

Minnesota Lawyer

Informative blog, nice sharing your thoughts with us.

BitTrend

It's usually pretty easy to take care of things like this. Most of the time, we just need a little more information about your account or latest transactions.

Dallas Injury Lawyer

I also have that question in my mind and I am happy to finally found the best answer for it. I have been looking for that answer for over a day now.

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