Sometimes insurance companies do the right thing in workers’ compensation claims but medical offices don’t. A prime example of this is overly aggressive billing for medical services.

Under Nebraska law, an employer may only charge a certain amount for medical care covered by workers’ compensation care. Most importantly, the injured worker should pay nothing for medical care if it is covered by workers’ compensation. In Nebraska, workers’ compensation generally pays doctors a higher rate than private insurance.

The problem is that sometimes clinics will try to collect the balance from injured workers under the assumption that workers’ compensation works like private health insurance. Injured workers who get their care paid for by workers’ comp aren’t subject to deductibles or co-pays.

Sometimes clinics just make stupid mistakes.  I recently had a client who was billed by a surgical office for the expense of the employer’s lawyer meeting with the surgeon. Today, I had a client who was being flat out doubled billed.

Even if you are getting your medical paid, it would make sense to speak with an experienced workers’ compensation attorney in a scenario when you are being overbilled for care related to workers’ compensation. The same also goes if a medical office is aggressively trying to collect an unpaid bill from you. A knowledgeable lawyer can fight an unjustified collections case and can also advise you about your workers’ compensation.

Oftentimes, financial problems related to workers’ compensation injuries stem from an employee not getting loss-of-income benefits while they are healing. I defended a collection action for a client who was forced to use his wife’s health insurance to pay medical bills for his workers’ compensation-related medical bills. Having the ability to successfully prosecute a workers’ compensation case can relieve those financial pressures in some circumstances.