Subrogation on claims related to a 12yr old MVH
I’m trying to understand whether my employer health insurance can come after me personally for money related to an old car accident settlement.
Background:
- Car accident happened in 2014 when I was 17.
- I was driving my dad’s car and covered under his auto insurance.
- The other driver was at fault.
- I had serious injuries including fractures in my arm/wrist that required surgery and hardware placement.
- There was a settlement/UIM claim years ago, but from what I understand I was not “made whole” financially. Medical bills alone were around $50k and the settlement was not huge.
- I now have employer-sponsored Anthem insurance through my own job.
- Recently I had medically necessary hardware removal surgery + PT related to the old injury. The surgery had prior authorization through Anthem before it was done.
- Originally on intake paperwork I answered “no” to questions about whether this was related to an MVA/workers comp/accident because this was not from a recent accident and the surgery itself was medically necessary now due to symptomatic hardware.
Now I received a subrogation/coordination of benefits letter asking whether treatment was related to:
- a motor vehicle accident,
- workers comp,
- or another accident.
I filled out the form truthfully and disclosed the old accident/insurance info.
My question is:
Can an employer ERISA health plan actually try to recover money from ME personally or deny coverage entirely because there was a settlement 10+ years ago? Or is this usually just routine subrogation/coordination paperwork?
I’m especially confused because:
- I was a minor at the time
- it was my dad’s policy
- the claim is long closed
- and I don’t think the settlement specifically allocated future medical expenses.
Not asking for formal legal advice, just trying to understand what usually happens in situations like this and if I should be concerned.
Additionally, the subrogation letter is just about the initial consult I had, which was then followed by surgery, so I can imagine I'll have to fill out this paperwork again for each of the claims related to the surgery.