|
Hmmm... As someone who actually works for a disability insurance company and specializes in cases like this, I actually have to take the side of Walmart on this one. It is sad for this lady but most of these disability plans are based on lost wages NOT on medical expensed like the news report says. The way that it works is that you are only allowed to make about 70% of your regular earnings while you are on disability. eg: you are allowed to make $2000 per month on disability. Now if you get income from another source that exceeds that amount, you can still only make $2000 on the plan which means you have to pay the remainder back otherwise many people would be making more on disability then they do while working which opens the door to fraudulent claims. The Walmart plan was paying that amount for the disability say $2000 per month so when the lady won her case, walmart was entitled to subrogated interest charges on that case. Say the lady was paid 25000 for the year 2004 but then won her car accident lawsuit and won say: $10000 per year from the year of the accident, that means she would have to pay back 10000 to the walmart plan so that she is still only getting paid 25000 per year. If she had of won 35000 per year from the year of the accident then she would have to pay back 25000 for the year and she would get to keep the remaining 10000...
It is sad that she was in an accident but if you just let her keep the money then you open up the door for everyone on disability to keep the money... Where would you draw the line? What would be the impetus for these individuals to return to work when they can make significantly more money by "being injured" than by actually working.
Not only did Walmart (or whoever their carrier was) have a legal right to this money but they had an obligation to take this money FOR ALL THE OTHER PEOPLE WHO PAY INTO THE PLAN. This is a perfect example of how the media colours information for one side or another. Seriously people the ramifications of Walmart actually letting this lady keep her money would be HUGE to all the other people on the plan which really need it. As a matter of fact, it may be so bad that they may just stop carrying insurance options for their employees which means that everyone at walmart would have to get another plan that they would most likely be paying out the nose for... If anything, the lady should be going after the person who hit her for medical expenses AND lost wages.
If you're gonna be pissed at anyone, be pissed at the US medical system which costs ridiculous amounts of money for people that really need treatment.
Last edited by Prissypants; Mar 29, 08 at 06:51 AM.
Reason: added stuff
|
Mar 28, 08
Similar Topics
