Affiance Partners, LLC, is a partnership that includes a legal firm with in-depth custodial administration experience and a financial institution with manages assets of 117 billion dollars. This partnership offers properly managed, legally sound and financially secure custodial account services to the Medicare Set Aside (MSA) marketplace.

Medicare laws and regulations provide responsibility for the future medical expenses associated with an injury should not be shifted to Medicare from the responsible party. For that reason, Medicare will not pay for any medical expenses related to an injury after a settlement, until the time a portion of the settlement allocated to future medical expenses covered by Medicare is fully exhausted. This means a portion of the settlement must be "set aside" to pay for the future Medicare covered expenses associated with the injury of the settlement. (42 C.F.R. 411.46).

The unprecedented growth of Medicare Set Asides has had a profound effect in securing the integrity of the Medicare trust (fund). However, in Workers’ Compensation and liability settlement cases, the agreement of all parties (insurers, plaintiffs, attorneys and Medicare) often falls short of its intended purpose. This has resulted in no standardized and secure means of managing and reporting the MSA fund usage to ensure compliance with Medicare’s provisions.

Affiance Partners has created an instant value for all parties by offering our MSA services. This protection is for the:

Plaintiff/Claimant

• Maintains benefit eligibility;
• Provides guidance for use of MSA funds; and
• Removes the burden of reporting (custodial option).

Insurer and Attorneys

• Provides peace of mind because the plaintiff is provided with a trusted resource to manage future care and avoid post settlement liability.

Medicare

• Insures the approved allocated funds are used for their intended purpose, and;
• Provides a uniform method to comply with disbursement and reporting obligations, as well as protecting ongoing entitlement to Medicare.

Every Medicare Set-Aside submitted to CMS for approval must specify if the funds will be self-administered by the claimant, or set up in a custodial account. Affiance has solutions for both options, allowing the claimant's best interests to be fully realized.

In order to provide extra protection against Professional Liability exposure, Affiance was the first company to offer a First Year Self Administration Account Program. This allows the claimant to have hands-on control over their MSA funds and issue payments to their providers of injury related, Medicare approved care. For more on this type of account click Affiance Self Administered MSA.

Affiance Partners is also pleased to offer our Custodial Account Program. This program offers full service MSA administration with claims processing and annual compliance accountings being performed by Affiance Partners. For more on this type of account click Affiance Custodial MSA.