If you are receiving Medicare and have been injured at work, you may have heard of Workers Compensation Medicare Set-Aside Arrangements or WCMSA. When dealing with workman’s comp and Medicare, you may be required to set up a WCMSA as part of your settlement.
If this happens, you will be asked to set aside a portion of your workers’ comp benefits in an account. This money will be used to cover treatment and medical procedures related to your work injury once you begin earning Medicare. However, it’s important to note that this money can only be used to cover things that are usually covered by Medicare with the exception of medication for your work-related injury.
The reason for this is account is because while workers’ compensation covers 100% of your work-related injury treatment, Medicare does not. In fact, Medicare only covers 80%. The WCMSA ensures that you will have money to cover that remaining 20% once your Medicare payments start.
As stated before, you can also use your WCMSA to pay for medication. If it looks like you might run out of funds to cover your medication, it may be worth looking into a Medicare Part D prescription drug plan.
