Most of the time, when someone suffers an injury, they get medical treatment and recover without any further need for doctor’s visits, therapy or medication. Unfortunately, this is not always true, as there are many injuries that require ongoing medical treatment. This becomes an even bigger concern if you are a worker who was injured on the job and you require ongoing medical treatment. There are two main reasons for this: ongoing benefits available under the workers compensation laws; and the interests of the federal government in all workers compensation claims.
First, while there are caps in place regarding monetary benefits available through workers compensation, there are no monetary limits on the future (or ongoing) medical treatment you may require. Under our workers compensation laws, if a doctor says you will require ongoing treatment that is related to your work injury, you are entitled to receive that treatment even if you require it for the rest of your life. Insurance companies don’t like to have this kind of open-ended obligation, so rest assured they will do whatever they can to cut-off this obligation either through settlement or at a hearing.
Second, we all have an expectation to be on Medicare at some point in the future, whether through age or disability. The law requires that in every workers compensation claim that is settled, the federal government must be protected from ever having to pay for medical treatment in the future through Medicare that should have been covered by a workers compensation insurance company. There are several different ways this can be accomplished to keep people from getting in trouble with the federal government/Medicare in the future, but this can be rather complicated and it is often tricky trying to decide which route is best in a particular case.
This is yet another reason why it is important to talk with a lawyer whenever you have a workers compensation injury so you can make sure you are maximizing your benefits, getting all the treatment to which you are entitled, and protecting yourself such that there are no entanglements with the federal government should you require ongoing medical treatment. My team and I are very experienced in handling these types of matters, and we will work hard to ensure you understand all of these issues so that we can work together to bring about the best possible result in your workers compensation case. Give me a call directly at (864) 660-0465 (or call the main line at (864) 660-0465) or send an email to jdantin@spartanlaw.com to discuss your on-the-job injury.
The posts on this website/blog are published as a service to our clients and friends. They are intended to provide general information only and should not be construed to be formal legal advice regarding any specific situation and should not be construed as forming an attorney-client relationship. Success in the past does not indicate the likelihood of success in any future representation.
Blog post by attorney Jeremy Dantin. Click here to learn more about Jeremy.
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