Miami lawyers expect a recent state court victory to pave the way for billions of dollars to flow back to Medicare and its beneficiaries.

The attorneys, John Ruiz and Frank Quesada of the firm MSP Recovery, are going after liability insurers across the country for allegedly shirking their duty to reimburse Medicare benefit providers for conditional payments. Under the Medicare Secondary Payer law, the government can recover double damages from a primary payer that fails to pay Medicare back for medical expenses covered by a liability policy.

“Between 8 to 10 percent of all claims that are made through Medicare or Medicare Advantage Organizations are the responsibility of another payer,” Ruiz said—think car crashes, slip-and-fall accidents and workers' compensation claims. “That's a substantial amount because Medicare is paying in the vicinity of $600 billion a year.”