Originally from:
Automobile Insurance Subrogation: In All 50 States - Hardcover
Automobile Insurance Subrogation: In All 50 States - Electronic
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§ 4.17 KANSAS
§ 4.17[1] Subrogation Rights
While both the equitable and contractual rights of subrogation are
recognized in Kansas,1 Kansas is an anti-subrogation state. Insurance
companies and health Plans are not allowed to issue or to have
subrogation clauses which provide for reimbursement of medical,
surgical, hospital, or funeral expenses in their Plans or policies.2 This
Kansas Administrative Regulation reads as follows:
An insurance company shall not issue contracts of insurance
in Kansas containing a "subrogation" clause applicable to
coverages providing for reimbursement of medical, surgical,
or funeral expenses.3
This regulation has specifically been held to be constitutional.4
Interestingly, automobile insurers providing personal injury
protection medical benefit coverage in excess of the $2,000
minimum requirement have subrogation rights for such medical
benefit payments, despite the Kansas regulation.5 Despite this strong
anti-subrogation statute, it should be noted that the statute will not
apply to certain Plans exempt from the jurisdiction and regulation of
the Kansas Insurance Department.6 A complete list of persons in
associations over which the Kansas Insurance Department has no
jurisdiction or regulation rights are included in § 40-202 of the
Kansas Statutes. They include, among other things:
(b) The employees of a particular person, firm, or
corporation.7
When a minor receives a payment for medical services from an
insurer, the minor is bound by the subrogation clause of the
insurance contract even though the parent, rather than the child,
signed the contract.8
It can be argued by a subrogating insurer in Kansas that the antisubrogation
statute shouldn't apply when a health insurance carrier
merely seeking reimbursement from its own insured, as opposed to
subrogation. This is because the anti-subrogation statute prohibits
issuance of a Plan with a "subrogation clause," but it doesn't say
anything about a reimbursement clause. One should argue that
Gary Wickert is an insurance trial lawyer and is regarded as one of the world's leading experts on insurance subrogation. He is also the author of several subrogation books and legal treatises and is a national and international speaker and lecturer on subrogation and motivational topics. After 15 years as the youngest managing partner in the history of the 30-lawyer Houston law firm of Hughes, Watters & Askanase, L.L.P., Mr. Wickert returned to his native Wisconsin in 1998 and co-founded the subrogation firm of Matthiesen, Wickert & Lehrer, S.C. He oversees a National Recovery Program which includes a network of nearly 285 contracted subrogation law firms in all 50 states, Mexico, Canada and the United Kingdom and boasts recoveries of more than $500 million in recoveries and credits for more than 200 insurance companies. Licensed in both Texas and Wisconsin, Mr. Wickert is double board-certified in both personal injury law and civil trial law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization. He is also certified as a Civil Trial Advocate by the National Board of Trial Advocacy, for whom he has both written and graded the product liability questions contained on the NBTA national certification exam taken by trial lawyers around the country. For 25 years, Mr. Wickert has served as an expert witness and insurance consultant on subrogation and insurance related issues and has been consulted by insurance carriers, lawyers, and legislative bodies from several states. He is a licensed arbitrator and has attended more than 750 mediations in more than 30 different states. He has represented subrogated insurance carriers in every state, and has been admitted pro hac vice in 17 states. Gary Wickert has worked with the Texas Legislative Oversight Committee in rewriting their workers' compensation subrogation statutes, has served on the Board of the National Association of Subrogation Professionals, and has been cited as an authority on workers' compensation subrogation by several appellate courts, including the Texas Court of Appeals. He is one of only a few lawyers to have ever represented a subrogated carrier before the United States Supreme Court, and was named as one of Law & Politics magazine's "Super Lawyers" for 2005, 2006, and 2007.
