Under Missouri Workers’ Compensation law the employer or its work comp insurer are supposed to pay for medical treatment necessary to care for the employee’s injury. However, when the employee’s work comp claim settles for a final lump sum, part of the settlement paid to the employee may include an amount for any unpaid medical expenses owed to health care providers who have not yet been paid. Then the burden shifts to the employee to pay any outstanding medical bills. The question is how much does the employee have to pay the health care provider–the full amount of the bill or the much smaller percentage (often 20% or less) that an insurance company like Blue Cross Blue Shield would have to pay.
A few years ago, Missouri law changed section 287.140 of the Revised Missouri Statutes to clearly state in subsection 3 that no health care provider may charge the employee more than the amount that would have been due from a health insurance company or if the patient was a private pay. Thus, the employee in these situations need pay no more than the percentage that the insurance carrier would have paid, saving perhaps 80% or more off the full amount that a health care provider may bill without knowing of the law or in hopes of obtaining full payment.
Kurt H. King
Law Office of Kurt H. King, 20 E. Franklin, Liberty, Clay County, Missouri 64068
816.781.6000
Missouri Workers’ Compensation Law, Personal Injury, Lender Liability Litigation, Divorce & Modification, Child Custody & Support, Family Law, Bankruptcy
The Law Office of Kurt H King 
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