Subrogation is a term that's understood among insurance and legal professionals but sometimes not by the customers who employ them. Rather than leave it to the professionals, it would be in your self-interest to understand the nuances of how it works. The more information you have about it, the better decisions you can make about your insurance company.
An insurance policy you own is a promise that, if something bad occurs, the firm on the other end of the policy will make good in one way or another without unreasonable delay. If you get an injury while working, for instance, your employer's workers compensation pays out for medical services. Employment lawyers handle the details; you just get fixed up.
But since ascertaining who is financially responsible for services or repairs is regularly a heavily involved affair – and delay sometimes adds to the damage to the victim – insurance firms often opt to pay up front and figure out the blame later. They then need a mechanism to recover the costs if, when all is said and done, they weren't actually in charge of the payout.
For Example
You arrive at the Instacare with a gouged finger. You hand the nurse your health insurance card and he writes down your plan details. You get stitched up and your insurer gets an invoice for the medical care. But the next morning, when you get to your workplace – where the injury happened – you are given workers compensation forms to file. Your employer's workers comp policy is in fact responsible for the hospital trip, not your health insurance policy. The latter has an interest in recovering its money somehow.
How Does Subrogation Work?
This is where subrogation comes in. It is the method that an insurance company uses to claim reimbursement when it pays out a claim that turned out not to be its responsibility. Some companies have in-house property damage lawyers and personal injury attorneys, or a department dedicated to subrogation; others contract with a law firm. Under ordinary circumstances, only you can sue for damages to your person or property. But under subrogation law, your insurer is given some of your rights in exchange for making good on the damages. It can go after the money that was originally due to you, because it has covered the amount already.
Why Should I Care?
For a start, if your insurance policy stipulated a deductible, your insurer wasn't the only one that had to pay. In a $10,000 accident with a $1,000 deductible, you have a stake in the outcome as well – namely, $1,000. If your insurer is unconcerned with pursuing subrogation even when it is entitled, it might choose to recoup its costs by raising your premiums. On the other hand, if it has a capable legal team and goes after them efficiently, it is doing you a favor as well as itself. If all $10,000 is recovered, you will get your full $1,000 deductible back. If it recovers half (for instance, in a case where you are found one-half at fault), you'll typically get half your deductible back, depending on your state laws.
Additionally, if the total cost of an accident is more than your maximum coverage amount, you could be in for a stiff bill. If your insurance company or its property damage lawyers, such as auto accident norcross ga, pursue subrogation and succeeds, it will recover your expenses in addition to its own.
All insurers are not created equal. When comparing, it's worth researching the records of competing firms to evaluate whether they pursue valid subrogation claims; if they resolve those claims fast; if they keep their clients posted as the case continues; and if they then process successfully won reimbursements immediately so that you can get your deductible back and move on with your life. If, on the other hand, an insurer has a reputation of honoring claims that aren't its responsibility and then covering its profit margin by raising your premiums, you should keep looking.