Under the terms of most health insurance policies, and in accordance with the law of many states, if you are injured as a result of the negligence of someone else and sustained serious personal injury, your health insurance company is required to pay for the medical care that is needed to treat your serious personal injuries.
This is true whether you sustain serious personal injuries as a result of a automobile accident, the negligence of a nursing home, the negligence of a doctor or the negligence of the nursing staff in a hospital. This ensures that when you make a recovery against the wrong doer, who caused your serious personal injuries, all of that recovery is used to compensate you for the pain and suffering that you have endured. However, in a recent effort to change federal law, the health insurance companies tried to obtain the passage of a bill that would require that any person who caused a personal injury and his or her liability insurance company would have to pay your health insurance company back for all the payments they had made on your behalf while treating your serious personal injuries before the person who sustained the injuries receive any money what so ever. Fortunately, this attempt by the health insurance industry to further enhance their corporate profits was defeated and, for the time being people who sustain serious personal injuries, will continue to be able to rely on their health insurance companies to pay the medical bill associated with curing those serious personal injuries.
Authored By: James C. Lewis, Esq.
Rick Shapiro has practiced personal injury law for over 30 years in Virginia, North Carolina, and throughout the Southeastern United States. He is a Board-Certified Civil Trial Advocate by the National Board of Trial Advocacy (ABA Accredited) and has litigated injury cases throughout the eastern United States, including wrongful death, trucking, faulty products, railroad, and medical negligence claims. During his three-decade career, Shapiro has won client appeals before the VA Supreme Court, VA Court of Appeals, NC Supreme Court, SC Supreme Court, WV Supreme Court, TN Supreme Court, and three times before the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, underscoring Shapiro’s trial achievements. In addition, he and his law firm have won settlements/verdicts in excess of $100 million. His success in and out of the courtroom is a big reason why he was named 2019 “Lawyer of the Year” in railroad law in U.S. News & World Report's Best Lawyers publication (Norfolk, VA area), and he has been named a “Best Lawyer” and “Super Lawyer” by those peer-reviewed organizations for multiple years. Rick was also named a “Leader in the Law, Class of 2022” by Virginia Lawyers Weekly (total of 33 statewide honorees consisting of lawyers and judges across Virginia). And in September 2023, Rick was selected as a recipient of the National Board of Trial Advocacy (NBTA) 2023 President’s Award. Although many nominations were submitted from across the country, Rick was just one of eight attorneys chosen by the prestigious National Board which certifies civil trial attorneys across the U.S. Rick was also recently named to Virginia Lawyers Weekly 2024 Virginia’s Go To Lawyers Medical Malpractice. The attorneys awarded this honor are nominated by their colleagues and chosen by a panel from the publication.
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