What’s Subrogation

What’s Subrogation and how does it apply to my personal injury claim.

Simply put subrogation is when your insurance company pays for damages caused by another person (third party) and attempts to recover whatever it paid out. Generally, when discussing injury claims, money paid by a health insurance carrier for an injured person’s treatment is the most common type of subrogation claim.

So how does it work? Let’s say you are involved in a car accident and you are forced to undergo treatment that your health insurance company pays your medical provider $10,000. Now let’s say you settle your claim with the insurance company of the person who caused your injuries $30,000. Your health insurance carrier would have a subrogation claim for $10,000 meaning you must pay your health insurance carrier $10,000 out of the $30,000 you recovered from the insurance company of the person who caused you injuries. However, oftentimes the amount owed in subrogation is negotiable, meaning you can get the amount reduced which would increase the overall amount put in the injured person’s pocket.

This is meant to be a basic explanation of the most common type of subrogation and there are quite a few other types that may be involved in your injury claim and while it may get complicated, at Vitus, we are here to help you every step of the way.