Medicare Set-Off Disallowed in Medical Malpractice case against the United States

The United States District Court for Southern Illinois has disallowed a set-off requested by Medicare in a medical malpractice case against the United States under the Federal Tort Claims Act.  Illinois law applies under the act.  Under the Illinois Collateral Source Rule the $31,000,000 received by the Plaintiff could not be decreased by the benefits the plaintiff received from Medicare for treatment, because the Medicare benefits were from a source wholly independent of, and collateral to, the tortfeasor.  The United States argued the Medicare benefits paid to , or on behalf of, the plaintiff came from general revenue funds, not special revenue funds, and therefore the Medicare lien should be off-set against the award.  The Court rejected that argument.  CLanton v United States (U.S. dist Ct, So. dist. Ill., 2018).