How Georgia’s Collateral Source Rule Protects Your Recovery

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When health insurance paid part of an injured person’s medical bills, what the jury may hear about those payments in Georgia depends on when the claim arose. For causes of action arising on or after April 21, 2025, OCGA 51-12-1.1 makes both the billed amounts and the amounts the insurance contract actually required relevant to the value of medical care. For earlier claims, prior law governs, and the Supreme Court of Georgia has described evidence of collateral payments as inherently prejudicial.

The Old Rule and the 1987 Statute

Subsection (b) of OCGA 51-12-1, which carries a 1987 amendment (Ga. L. 1987, p. 915), makes admissible evidence of “all compensation, indemnity, insurance (other than life insurance), wage loss replacement, income replacement, or disability benefits or payments available to the injured party from any and all governmental or private sources,” while providing that the trier of fact “shall not be directed to reduce an award of damages accordingly.” The text still appears in the Code, but in Denton v. Con-Way Southern Express, Inc., 261 Ga. 41 (1991), the Supreme Court of Georgia held that subsection (b) “violates that provision of the Georgia Constitution which mandates that the paramount duty of government is the protection of person and property and that the protection shall be impartial and complete,” and wrote: “It is, therefore, our duty to declare it void.”

The Court explained why such evidence is feared: “Our Courts have adhered to the principle that evidence of collateral sources is inherently prejudicial because its infectious nature tends to contaminate the entire trial.”

The 2025 Statute

OCGA 51-12-1.1 provides that “special damages for medical and healthcare expenses shall be recoverable only as provided in this Code section” (subsection (a)), that they “shall be limited to the reasonable value of medically necessary care, treatment, or services, and the amount of such special damages shall be determined by the trier of fact” (subsection (b)), and that for a plaintiff with public or private health insurance, the evidence of reasonable value “shall include both the amounts charged for past, present, or future medical and healthcare expenses and the amounts actually necessary to satisfy such charges pursuant to the insurance contract or the applicable governmental workers’ compensation program” (subsection (c)).

The General Assembly stated how far the change goes. It intends “that this Code section abrogates the common law collateral source rule to the extent necessary to introduce the evidence described in this Code section; provided, however, that nothing in this Code section shall be construed or applied to prevent the court from issuing appropriate jury instructions to clarify the role of collateral source payments and to prevent potential jury confusion regarding the effect of collateral source payments on the plaintiff’s recovery” (subsection (e)). Either side may still present evidence “challenging the reasonableness of medical and healthcare expenses, whether incurred or projected future expenses, or the medical necessity of any treatment” (subsection (f)).

Which Claims the Statute Reaches

Senate Bill 68 provides that the sections that include OCGA 51-12-1.1 “shall apply only with respect to causes of action arising on or after the effective date of this Act, and any prior causes of action shall be governed by prior law” (SB 68 (2025), Section 9(b)). In Omni Healthcare, LLC v. Stacy Young Excavation, Inc., No. A25A1411 (Ga. Ct. App. Sept. 30, 2025), a case arising from a January 2022 accident, the Court of Appeals applied prior law to disclosure orders rather than the new statute.

For example, imagine two identical crashes, one on December 15, 2024, and the other on June 15, 2025. The new statute governs the second injured person’s medical damages and not the first’s.

Frequently Asked Questions

Do workers’ compensation payments count under the new statute?
The statute’s health insurance language includes “benefits under a governmental workers’ compensation program,” and the evidence includes the amounts necessary to satisfy the charges under “the applicable governmental workers’ compensation program” (OCGA 51-12-1.1(c)).

What if the injured person has insurance but has not used it?
The billed amounts and the amounts necessary under the policy are relevant “regardless of whether the health insurance has been used, is used, or will be used to satisfy such charges” (OCGA 51-12-1.1(c)).

Does the statute matter for a plaintiff with no health insurance?
Yes, in part. Subsection (c) applies only to a plaintiff who has public or private health insurance, but subsection (b) limits every plaintiff’s medical special damages to the reasonable value of medically necessary care, as the trier of fact determines it (OCGA 51-12-1.1(b), (c)).

What if the care was given under a letter of protection?
Then the letter, the itemized and coded charges, the name of any third party that bought the provider’s accounts receivable for less than the invoice price and what it paid, and whether and by whom the claimant was referred for treatment are relevant and discoverable (OCGA 51-12-1.1(d)).

  • OCGA 51-12-1(b) (Ga. L. 1987, p. 915); Denton v. Con-Way Southern Express, Inc., 261 Ga. 41 (1991)
  • OCGA 51-12-1.1(a), (b), (c), (d), (e), (f)
  • SB 68 (2025), Section 9(b); Omni Healthcare, LLC v. Stacy Young Excavation, Inc., No. A25A1411 (Ga. Ct. App. Sept. 30, 2025)

Disclaimer

This article provides general information about the collateral source rule and medical damages under Georgia law. It is not legal advice and does not create an attorney-client relationship. What a jury may hear depends on the date the cause of action arose and the specific facts. A person injured in Georgia should consult a licensed Georgia attorney promptly about the particular situation.

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