State Gets Full Reimbursement of Medicaid Injury Payments |
State v. Peters, 946 A.2d 1231, 287 Conn. 82 (2008)
Mr. James Peters was
seriously injured in a motorcycle accident in Connecticut in 1997. Through the Medicaid program, the State paid
$63,000 of the medical bills for his injuries.
The State also gave him $7000 in cash assistance.
Mr. Peters hired a personal injury lawyer to represent him with his accident case and received an arbitration award of $747,000. After paying attorneys fees and costs of $221,000, 30% of the total award, Mr. Peters was left with $526,000. The State asked for reimbursement of the full $70,000 it had paid to Mr. Peters in Medicaid benefits and cash assistance. He believed the amount paid back should be reduced by the 30% that was deducted from his award for attorneys fees and costs.
The
State sued Mr. Peters for the full amount.
He argued that Medicare reduced the reimbursement amounts for bills
related to personal injury accidents by the percentage of attorney fees and
Medicaid should do the same. The court
disagreed. He appealed to the
Connecticut Supreme Court, which also disagreed.
The
Supreme Court justices stated that nothing in either the Federal or State
statutes regarding Medicaid requiring this kind of reduction. While it could be argued that a reduction
would be a fair thing to do, the Court said, it was to the Connecticut legislature
to change the law.
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