Smith v. Agency for Health Care Administration

The personal injury case brought below by Martha Smith, as plenary guardian of Maurice Thomas, settled for $2,225,000.00. Smith appeals the final order denying her motion to reduce the State of Florida’s Medicaid lien from $122,783.87 to $40,927.96. We affirm.

Florida’s Medicaid Third-Party Liability Act, section 409.910, Florida Statutes (2007), authorizes the State to recover from a personal injury settlement or verdict money that the State paid for the plaintiffs medical care prior to the tort recovery. The statute limits the State’s *591recovery to half of the tort recovery, after deducting…