When you are injured in an accident and you hire a lawyer, your medical care providers may enact a healthcare lien against any settlement that you receive. Your lawyer may be able to help you to understand the terms of the liens and represent you in order to work toward a settlement with all parties.

What a Healthcare Lien Means for a Personal Injury Settlement

When another party is at-fault in your injury case, you and your personal injury lawyer in Las Vegas might decide that a lawsuit is the best way to recover your expenses and get compensated for the pain and suffering as well as lost wages that the injury caused. Once your lawyer has filed the case against the at-fault party, your healthcare providers might file a lien. Understanding what the healthcare lien is can help you to work with your lawyer to negotiate the best possible outcome for your situation.

What Is a Healthcare Lien?

The lien is a legal document filed with the court that entitles the providers to an amount of your settlement. With the lien in place, your healthcare providers are choosing not to bill your medical insurance, Med Pay or personal injury protection policy for the care that they provided to you. They are instead waiting to collect their payments from any settlement that you receive.

How Does a Healthcare Lien Work?

After your personal injury attorney helps you to secure a settlement either through out-of-court negotiations or an in-court case, the liens must be paid. Your lawyer might negotiate with your healthcare providers to get them paid a lesser amount than their billed charges. This is similar to the negotiations that take place between healthcare providers and insurance companies.

What a Healthcare Lien Means to You

A successful negotiation between your lawyer and healthcare providers might mean that after the liens are paid and the legal fees are paid, you are left with more of your settlement to keep for yourself. This can give you the flexibility that you need for recovery. You could use the money for aiding your future healing.