Warner Robins Personal Injury Law Blog

Many of our truck/auto crash victim clients are on Medicare. When Medicare pays(see website below for a step by step outline of the process) medical bills related to liability claims you can expect to receive a letter from Medicare requiring you to provide information about your injury some details about the parties involved in the case. If you have an attorney experienced in personal injury cases, this letter should be forwarded to him/her for processing. All of the parties concerned with a claim for injuries in which Medicare has paid have some reporting responsibility under the federal regulations. This includes the insurance company, your attorney and the defense attorney, if any.  For instances, when a injured party is known to the insurance company to be a Medicare benificiary, it must send notice to Medicare that a claim is pending and that payments may be made to the injured party. Heavy fines can be imposed for failure of the insurance company to comply. Likewise, once a claim has been settled, notice of the settlement must be transmitted to Medicare so that the reimbursement  process can be brought to a conclusion. Thus, the insurance companies will almost always investigate the claimant's status insofar is Medicare is concerned. And this means that almost always the injured party will have to deal with Medicare. This process can be tedious and aggravating if it is not handled correctly.  In our office we have a paralegal trained to handle Medicare claims and it has really helped us streamline the process for our clients. It is common for the paralegal to be placed on "hold" for more than an hour.

Fortunately for the claimants, once you successfully go through the process,  Medicare usually pays much less than the amount shown on the bill. Also, Medicare deducts from the 'pay back' the amount of the procurement costs including attorneys fees. In other words the amount of the required reimbursement is reduced by the attorney fees. Thus the efforts of the attorney are recognized and the injured party is not penalized by having an attorney involved with this aspect of the case. 

Insurance companies will abide by the federal regulations on Medicare reimbursement because if the don't they are subject to fines and may even be required to pay Medicare in addition to paying the claimant. Worker's compensation cases may require a set aside trust to deal with future medical bills related to the accident or on the job injury. Set aside trust may also be required in some types of tort claims. For more information go to the web site; 

A new online Self-Service Tool to help manage your Medicare recovery case:

                                 http://www.msprc.info/

Since the Supreme Court has allowed attorneys to advertise, law firm marketing has become a major business. The individual needing profession help usually doesn't have a good understanding about how to choose a lawyer. And, sometimes the individual ends up with poor representation, and consequently, with a bad outcome. Our firm is inundated by commercial marketers who want to help us get new clients. And, certainly, obtaining clients is a necessity for a successful law practice. HOWEVER, beware of slick marketing schemes. Many times attorneys are not hired because of their legal ability but because of their exposure on repeated TV advertisements and internet presence.

Best advise I can give is to interview, yes interview, the attorney handling your case. Make sure the attorney you are speaking with will be the attorney actually handling your claim.  Ask him or her about their experience, their ratings with Martindale-Hubbell, the number jury cases they have tried and whether or not they have had problems with the State Bar. This may take some time but don't be afraid to ask these questions. You are entitled to know. Qualified attorneys are usually not afraid of these type questions and, in fact, are usually happy to provide this valuable information to prospective clients.

A fatal car accident occurred in Georgia on the afternoon of April 14. The crash site was located at the intersection of Highway 256 and Sumner Road in Worth County. After stopping at a stop sign, a 47-year-old woman drove into the intersection. The fatal car accident resulted when her vehicle collided with an Eckrich Meats truck that was traveling westbound.

The truck struck the woman's vehicle on the passenger side, trapping all of the passengers inside the vehicle. While the truck driver was uninjured in the collision, a 20-year passenger in the car -- a daughter of the driver -- was killed. The other passenger and the driver were seriously injured. A 17-year-old passenger, also the daughter of the driver, was airlifted to Macon, and the mother was transported to Tift Regional Hospital. Both were said to have been listed in critical condition.

Car accidents can happen in the blink of an eye. Perhaps a driver's phone buzzes, and she looks down to see who is calling or texting. Or maybe a passenger points out something interesting, and the driver turns his head to see it. No matter what the scenario, distracted driving happens all the time. Unfortunately, when a driver takes his or her eyes off the road or stops paying attention - even for one second - an accident can occur.

Sadly, a car accident happened in Worth County last weekend that left a 20-year-old woman from Cumming dead. Georgia State Patrol officers said the crash occurred when a 47-year-old driver neglected to yield to oncoming traffic after stopping at a stop sign. When she drove forward, her vehicle collided with a freight truck.