Medical Bills Piling Up? Understanding Medical Lien Laws in Florida

Medical expenses can sneak up on you after a devastating accident. Unfortunately, these expenses don’t only pose a threat to your current financial standing. Hospitals throughout Florida can extend medical liens to you as you recover. Those liens can limit your ability to recover accident-based compensation from the parties responsible for your recent accident.

However, what is a medical lien, and how can you contend with these liens and get the accident compensation you need to recover? Our Florida personal injury lawyers at Baker Legal Team can help you understand the state’s medical lien laws so you can better understand what your road to financial recovery may look like.

What Is a Medical Lien?

A lien describes the obligation a person has to pay for goods or services that they’ve benefited from. Institutions like hospitals and other medical outlets may place medical liens against an accident survivor’s personal injury case in an effort to ensure they get paid for services rendered after the injured party’s accident.

Even well-insured individuals may find themselves contending with serious medical expenses after a severe accident. Medical liens subsequently represent the out-of-pocket cost that accident survivors like you need to pay to get out of medical debt.

Why Do Hospitals Enforce Medical Liens?

Florida laws require medical institutions to provide care to all parties, even those who can’t immediately pay for medical support. In other words, medical liens ensure that hospitals and medical professionals eventually get paid for services rendered.

Hospitals in Florida initially applied liens against uninsured patients and no other parties. However, today’s medical institutions are quick to apply liens to the service of all parties injured in an accident. It’s in your best interest to keep track of all of your relevant medical bills so you can request enough financial support to overcome both your lien and the cost of your other losses.

Factoring Medical Liens Into Your Request For Compensation

Should you choose to move forward with a personal injury claim or a process that allows you to demand loss-based compensation, you need to factor your lien into your request for support. If you settle without factoring these expenses into your long-term financial plans, you may not get the full compensation you need to get back on your feet.

That’s why personal injury attorneys throughout Florida recommend that you schedule a case evaluation with an experienced legal professional. The board-certified lawyers at Baker Legal Team can sit down with you and discuss what damages to include in your case. 

Integrating Losses Into a Request for Financial Support

Personal injury claims allow you to request financial compensation based on the economic and non-economic losses you can tie to someone else’s negligence. The losses you address when estimating the value of your personal injury case can include the following:

• Missed work
• Pain and suffering
• Ambulance fees
• Medical attention
• Surgeries
• Property damage
• Emotional distress

You can count on our experienced attorneys to explore every opportunity you have to request more support after an accident. We can back every request you make for support with evidence tying that loss to someone else’s negligence.

Our Personal Injury Lawyers Are Here to Represent You 

You have the right to financial support after a life-changing accident. Unfortunately, medical liens and Florida medical lien law can stand between you and the compensation you need to get back on your feet again. If you need help breaking down the different ways medical liens may impact your recovery, let our personal injury attorneys look into your case today.

Baker Legal Team offers tried and tested legal services to Floridians just like you. You can contact us online or call us at (561) 320-0000 to learn more about medical liens, the civil process, and the different ways you can get a fair loss-based settlement.