“Fair Share”
Subrogation Becomes Law
One of
the many issues facing a person injured in an automobile accident is the
medical bills associated with treatment for their injuries. Most people have health insurance which will
generally cover medical treatment.
However, most people do not know that if they receive any compensation
from the person at fault in the accident, their health insurance provider has a
right of subrogation or reimbursement for the medical bills they paid. In its simplest terms, this means the health
insurance provider is entitled to recover what they paid out for medical care
from their insured (the injured person).
Subrogation
has greatly complicated settlement of personal injury claims because it is
another entity with their “hand out” looking to get part of the money. This is especially so as more and more
insurance companies make low ball offers in pre-lawsuit settlement
negotiations.
Further difficulty is encountered
when fault for the accident isn’t totally clear. In Ohio, and injured person may generally
recover as long as they are less than 50% at fault in causing the accident. The amount of recovery is reduced by the
percentage the injured person was at fault.
For example, if the injured person obtains a judgment for $100,000
against the person primarily causing the accident, but the jury determines the
injured person was 30% at fault, they would only recover $70,000. This comparative fault reduction created the
issue of whether the subrogated medical insurance company should be allowed to
collect the total amount of bills they paid on behalf of the injured person
despite the reduction?
Ohio
recently passed the “Fair Share” law (Ohio Rev. Code § 2323.44) effectively requiring a
subrogated medical insurer to reduce the amount of their subrogated interest by
the same proportion that the injured person’s claim was reduced due to their
percentage of fault in causing the accident.
So, in the above example, a medical insurance provider could only
collect 70% of what they paid on behalf of the injured person.
This may not
seem like a big deal, but when fighting against large insurance corporations
who’s only objective is profit, it is nice to see some common sense legislation
on behalf of the injured.
-Bryan
