It is now clear that the proper amount of medical bills recoverable in Colorado personal injury accidents is not limited to the reduced amount paid by your health insurance company.
Since our article of August 31, 2008, which discussed whether an injured motorist can recover as medical bill damages the amount of his/her bills, or only the reduced amount that his/her health insurance paid for such bills, a new and important appellate case has been decided. In our August article we told you of the case of Steidinger v. Hilton, the first Colorado Appellate decision to address this recurring issue. That case, however, did not fully settle the issue because it was issued as a “non published” decision, which means its importance as legal precedent was limited.
The Colorado Court of Appeals has now issued a published decision on the issue that is controlling precedent. In Tucker v. Volunteers of America the Court held that a trial judge was wrong in limiting the amount of medical bill damages recoverable to the reduced amount of medical bills paid by the injured person’s health insurance. The Court of Appeals reasoned that the person at fault for injuries should not profit because his victim happened to have health insurance. The Court further explained that if the person at fault profited from health insurance that his victim had, victims who did not have health insurance would end up recovering even more damages than victims who had health insurance. The Court found such a result made no sense.
By Gary S. Craw
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