top of page

Shocking Court Ruling?: Medicaid Recipients Beware! Your Settlement Funds May Be at Risk

Writer's picture: Dedric BrownDedric Brown

Gallardo v. Marstiller was a court case in the United States that addressed the issue of whether the state of Florida's Medicaid program could place a lien on a Medicaid recipient's settlement funds for medical expenses. In this case, the plaintiff, Gallardo, received Medicaid benefits and was injured in a car accident. He later settled a lawsuit related to the accident and received a settlement payment. However, the state of Florida sought to recover a portion of the settlement to cover Gallardo's medical expenses that were paid for by Medicaid.


The court ultimately ruled in favor of the state of Florida, stating that Medicaid liens are permissible under federal law and do not violate the Supremacy Clause or the Due Process Clause of the U.S. Constitution. The court held that Florida's Medicaid program was entitled to recover the amount paid for Gallardo's medical expenses from the settlement funds, and that the state's lien was not invalidated by the fact that the settlement also included compensation for non-medical expenses.


The Gallardo v. Marstiller case affirmed the right of state Medicaid programs to place liens on settlement funds to recover the cost of medical care provided to Medicaid recipient.

The Dedric Brown Law Firm sees that the issue of the case as whether the state of Florida's Medicaid program could place a lien on a Medicaid recipient's settlement funds for medical expenses was addressed. The court decided that the state could take some of the money that the person got from their settlement to pay for medical expenses that were already paid by Medicaid. This means that people who get Medicaid and later receive money from a lawsuit

settlement might have to pay back some of the money that Medicaid paid for their medical care.

4 views0 comments

Comments


bottom of page