What is subrogation?

So you have an injury claim and you’ve heard the adjuster mention the word “subrogation” but you don’t have a clue as to what they were talking about… right?

Simply put, subrogation is the act of one entity stepping into another entity’s shoes.  What?  That didn’t make it any plainer.  Sorry.  Let me try again.

If your insurance company pays $1,000 medical bill for you and you have the right to collect that amount from someone else (like the guy who rear ended you), then your insurance company is “subrogated” to that $1,000.  Your rights to collect that amount are transferred to your insurance company for that amount.  This is why when you go to the hospital for an automobile accident and give them your health insurance information, you usually receive a form from your health insurance company asking the details about to the accident.

Subrogation also goes by “subro” for short.  The whole world would probably be better off if this were known as “pay me back sucka” instead of subrogation, but until then, at least you know what the adjuster is talking about.

This entry was posted on July 17, 2008 at 10:57 am and is filed under Injury Law, Insurance Law. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response or trackback from your own site.