Southwest Fiduciary, Inc. v. Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System Administration

OPINION

JOHNSEN, Judge.

¶ 1 In these consolidated cases we address a question the Supreme Court left open in Arkansas Department of Health and Human Services v. Ahlborn, 547 U.S. 268, 126 S.Ct. 1752, 164 L.Ed.2d 459 (2006), concerning the lien rights of a state Medicaid plan after it has paid medical expenses for a victim who subsequently settles with a tortfeasor for less than the full amount of her overall damages. We conclude that the state plan may recover no more than the portion of the victim’s settlement that represents recovery of the plan’s payments on behalf of the victim, less a…