Q: If you settle a future medical workman's claim with compromise and release and are not required to setup an MSA because
it is below $25,000, who is responsible for paying future medical for costs related to the injury after the worker turns 65. The worker, primary insurance or medicare? The work is 59 and retired.
A: YOUR PREMISE that no MSA is required because a resolution is below $25,000 is false, as near as I can tell. RIGHT NOW, Medicare tends not to examine Compromise & Release Agreements that are lower dollar amounts, but Medicare's internal rule as I read it does not exempt any award of cash in exchange for resolving future medical rights. WHEN YOU READ the proposed Compromise & Release Agreement, insurers always write that any medical expense or bill not specifically listed in the written agreement becomes the personal responsibility of the injured worker. Whether the injured worker uses personal medical insurance, cash, or eventual Medicare coverage to pay treatment expenses is up to that injured worker.
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