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"Lien On Me, When You're Insured …”*

5/11/18

*Apologies to Bill Withers.
By: Zach Moura
On May 8, 2018, the Court of Appeal, Second District, upheld a trial court’s decision that an insured plaintiff who chooses to receive treatment from providers who are outside of his private health insurance plan is not prohibited by Howell v. Hamilton Meats & Provisions Inc. (2011) 52 Cal.4th 541, from introducing the full charged amount of his medical bills into evidence for the purpose of determining his economic damages in Pebley v. Santa Clara Organics, LLC (May 8, 2018, No. B277893) ___Cal.App.5th___ [2018 Cal. App. LEXIS 409.)
Pebley was injured in a motor vehicle accident caused by an employee of defendant Santa Clara Organics, LLC (Santa Clara).  Pebley initially sought treatment through his medical insurance carrier, Kaiser Permanente (Kaiser). Then, after filing a personal injury action against defendants, Pebley obtained care from a specialist outside the Kaiser network. While Pebley testified he was referred to the doctor by “members of his men’s group”, defendants drew the court’s attention to an internet article co-written by one of Pebley’s attorneys, noting that while “[t]ypically, medical liens in personal injury cases have been used where the plaintiff is uninsured” (or the carrier will not authorize recommended medical care), the attorney authors proposed that insured plaintiffs use the lien form of medical treatment to allow them “to sidestep the insurance company and the impact of Howell, Corenbaum and Obamacare” because treating on a lien basis increases the “settlement value” of personal injury cases. And indeed, Pebley’s post-Kaiser medical treatment was provided on that basis.
The trial court granted plaintiff’s motions in limine to exclude: evidence that Pebley was insured through Kaiser; arguments concerning Pebley’s decision not to seek medical treatment through his insurance; evidence of the amounts an insurance company may pay, or what a medical provider may accept, for medical services; and evidence that Pebley obtained most of his medical treatment on a lien basis. The trial court denied defendants’ motion in limine to exclude evidence of unpaid bills from health care providers under Howell.
The Court of Appeal held that Pebley was to be considered uninsured (or non-insured) for purposes of proving the amount of his damages for past and future medical expenses.  The consequence of that, under Bermudez v. Ciolek (2015) 237 Cal.App.4th 1311, 1336, was that Pebley could instead rely on an expert to “competently testify that the amount incurred and billed is the reasonable value of the service rendered”, and “the defendant may then test the expert’s opinion through cross-examination and present his or her own expert opinion testimony that the reasonable value of the service is lower”, leaving the jury to “best decide the reasonable value” of the medical services.
Defendants presented expert testimony that the reasonable and customary value of the services provided by the various medical facilities was substantially less than the amounts actually billed, and defendants’ medical expert opined that 95% of private pay patients would pay approximately 50% of the treating professionals’ bills. The jury rejected this expert evidence and awarded Pebley the billed amounts.
The Pebley decision will likely lead to an increase in the prevalence of insured plaintiffs seeking treatment outside their insurance networks on a lien basis.
If you have questions or would like more information, please contact Zach Moura at zmoura@fmglaw.com.