“You get what you pay for.” Too often, those seeking Medicare Set-Asides (MSAs) apply cost as the #1 criteria for selecting their MSA partner. For a commoditized product like a medically based MSA report, that makes sense. It’s a standard product, ubiquitous in nature, obtained from any number of vendors with little variation in the results. MSA vendors rarely stand behind the conclusions of the MSA report. If the conclusion is wrong, too bad. In that environment, it makes sense that potential clients seeking MSA guidance would be price sensitive.

MSA Legal Opinions are different in every way. MSA Legal Opinions view the issue from the legal perspective, not the medical perspective. With the goal of complying with the Medicare Secondary Payer (MSP) Act, an MSA Legal Opinion analyzes the law about future medical obligations under the MSP Act. MSA Legal Opinions do not concede or settle for MSAs as usual. MSA Legal Opinions challenge current MSA myths. What results is the lowest defensible MSA figure, be that a $0 MSA or otherwise.

MSA Legal Opinions trump MSA allocation reports in at least three (3) important ways:

• Expertise – MSA Legal Opinions are drafted by attorneys working for law firms that provide legal advice. They cannot be drafted by non-lawyers and they      cannot be drafted by attorneys working for an MSA vendor unless that advice is provided solely for internal purposes. For them to do that would constitute the unauthorized practice of law. Attorneys providing MSA Legal Opinions have likely reviewed thousands of fact patterns specifically to provide advice about that issue. That legal experience is what you should rely on going forward.
• Risk Management/Protection – Attorneys have certain ethical obligations. As a result, clients seeking legal advice are entitled to rely on the legal advice they receive from an attorney. Attorneys providing that legal advice must be willing to back up and defend that opinion no matter what. Attorneys providing MSA Legal Opinions are no different. That’s why our firm will stand behind the conclusions of its MSA Legal Opinion no matter what. Clients that obtain MSA Legal      Opinions from Cattie know that they can close their file with confidence that they will never owe Medicare a dime above and beyond that amount that Cattie recommends. All risk on the MSA issue carried by the client and firm are transferred to Cattie as a result of obtaining the MSA Legal Opinion. Remember that Medicare could potentially have a right to collect up to the full net proceeds of any settlement if the MSA issue is ignored. Instead of the client or firm facing that potential disastrous result, clients that hire Cattie are hiring Cattie to step into their shoes with Medicare. How’s that for protection? Think that’s worth      something? We do too.
• Return on Investment – This is what most miss in the discussion. Typically, MSA Legal Opinions will reduce MSA obligations by fifty percent (50%) or more. A $300,000 MSA based on medical records becomes a $150,000 MSA based on legal arguments. A $1 million MSA based on a life care plan becomes a $500,000 MSA based on the law. Any fees owed to the law firm rendering the MSA Legal Opinion are more than paid for by the conclusions that MSA Legal Opinion provides. In other words, the MSA Legal Opinion pays for itself. 

MSA Legal Opinions are premium products written by highly skilled attorneys that provide both legal advice and the protection that accompanies that legal advice. Make no mistake, an MSA Legal Opinion will cost you more than that regular MSA report. In any industry, premium products cost more than economy products. But, when you consider the legal advice you receive, the protection it provides post-settlement, and the fact that the cost will likely pay for itself in the reduction of the MSA obligation it provides, the only question that remains is why you have not been investing in a premium product like an MSA Legal Opinion until now?