Attorneys Worry Carriers May Exploit 5th Circuit Medicare Case

Medicare attorneys say they are concerned that a Tuesday decision from the U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals holding that a Texas comp carrier did not have to reimburse Medicare for the cost of an injured worker's back surgeries is an open invitation for insurance companies to start shifting their burdens onto the American taxpayer.In Caldera v. The Insurance Co. of the State of Pennsylvania, No. 12-40192, the court said the fact that a carrier admitted the surgeries were causally related to Guadalupe Caldera's compensable industrial injury did not mean that the carrier had to reimburs...