Brennan Heuser, Heuser & Heuser, L.L.P., Colorado Springs and Pueblo | October 2026
Service members and veterans in Colorado have the same right to file a personal injury claim as anyone else. What differs is practical. Where you treat, who gets paid back at the end, how a prior rating fits in, and what happens if you PCS.
Most of the people we talk to at Fort Carson and around Colorado Springs assume TRICARE or the VA is their only path to treatment. Some assume a disability rating cancels a claim. Neither is right. Here is how it actually works.
You do not have to treat at Evans
If you have a personal injury claim, you can see a civilian doctor instead of going through Evans Army Community Hospital. Many providers in Colorado Springs and Pueblo will treat on a lien. A lien means the provider waits for payment until your case resolves. You do not pay out of pocket while you get better.
There are good doctors in military medicine. Most of us have also had care that was less than stellar. You go to doc, and you get asked whether you changed your socks and drank water, then you leave with ibuprofen. It leaves a bad taste in your mouth.
What we like about lien treatment is the quality of the workup. You get imaging, a specialist, and a real plan. Not a profile that says no PT while you sit in pain.
Whether a provider will treat on a lien depends on the provider and on the case. We can help you find one who does.
Related reading: What if I Can’t Afford My Medical Bills? and Can I Choose Which Doctor Treats My Injuries?
For a free legal consultation, call (719) 520-9909
Long VA waits can leave a gap in your care
A gap in care is a stretch of time with no treatment after an injury. Insurance adjusters look for gaps and use them to argue you were not really hurt. That argument can reduce what your claim is worth.
Most of our veteran clients get their care at the PFC Floyd K. Lindstrom VA Clinic in Colorado Springs or the PFC James Dunn VA Clinic in Pueblo. There are great doctors in both. There are some who are not. The problem we see most often is the wait. You need an appointment, you get told three to four months, and then it gets canceled once or twice. Four months later you still have not been seen, and the gap in your record is doing damage to your case.
We can help you get seen sooner outside that system while your VA care continues. The point is simple. Keep the treatment steady so the record shows what your body is actually doing.
Related reading: Should I See a Doctor Even if I Don’t Feel Hurt in Colorado? and Common Insurance Adjuster Tactics
Who pays the VA and TRICARE back at the end
The VA and military treatment facilities do not absorb the cost when somebody else caused your injuries. Federal law lets the government recover that cost out of your recovery. The same idea applies to civilian providers who treat you on a lien. None of it is free care.
How much is owed, and under which authority, depends on where you were treated. Two things follow either way. Enough money has to be held back to cover the repayment, and the amount can often be negotiated down. Both get handled before your case closes.
Let us do that part. You should not spend 30 minutes on hold listening to that music, get dropped, and then wait for a callback that does not come. That is our job, and it frees you up to focus on getting better.
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A VA disability rating does not block your claim
You can be rated at 50, 60, or 70 percent for your knees and your back and still bring a personal injury claim. Colorado follows what lawyers call the eggshell plaintiff rule. The person who hurt you has to take you as they find you. They cannot cut what they owe by pointing at your old injury.
Hurt people can get hurt. A bad back does not stop a crash from making it worse.
Here is the part that matters for how your case gets built. The claim covers the worsening, not the condition you walked in with. Proving that aggravation takes real medical documentation and a lawyer who knows how to argue it. That is why the treatment record from the first section matters so much.
One separate note. If you are still in and you are not rated for something that should be rated, contact a veterans service organization about that. It is a different process from a personal injury claim, and the two do not cancel each other out.
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Why a VA doctor may go quiet once a claim starts
Even a doctor you like at the VA may pull back once they learn there is a potential legal case. In our experience they stop putting things in writing. They do not want to give an opinion, and they very much do not want to testify. No one wants to go to court, and doctors like it least of all.
Sometimes what you need is small. A single form, one box checked, one line saying whether the worsening in your back is related to the crash. If the doctor thinks that form leads to a courtroom, you may not get it.
A provider outside that system will usually give you the documentation your case needs. If your VA doctor is good and you want to stay, stay. We can set up treatment alongside your VA care rather than in place of it.
Your case follows you when you PCS
You can transfer to Georgia, Texas, or anywhere else in the country and your Colorado case keeps going. A change of duty station does not end your claim, and it does not end our representation.
I remember being at Fort Bragg, watching people rotate in and out constantly. Three to five years, sometimes less. So this question comes up in almost every consultation with an active duty client, and the answer is always the same. We can work your case remotely, and we can help you find treatment near your new station.
What to do if you get hurt on active duty
If you get hurt over a weekend in a car crash, three things need to happen.
- Report it through your chain of command. You do not have to treat with a military doctor, but you do have to report it.
- Get seen by a doctor. If it is not in the medical records, it did not happen. Every one of you has heard that before, and it is still true.
- Keep your own copies. There is a reason I hold about 15 copies of every military document I have ever been handed. Something can be left out of the record, and the record itself can get lost.
The culture works against all three. I will be okay. Give me two weeks of rest and it will settle down. Then years later people are jacked up with problems that could have been treated early.
That documentation does more than support a personal injury claim. It can matter for a disability claim when you get out as well.
Talk to us
Heuser & Heuser has practiced in Colorado Springs and Pueblo since 1996. The firm is veteran-owned, and we have spent our own time inside the military and VA systems we are describing here.
If you were hurt in a crash or on the job in Southern Colorado, we will review your case at no charge. No fee unless we win.
Colorado Springs: (719) 520-9909
Pueblo: (719) 543-9999
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This article provides general information about Colorado law and is not legal advice. Reading it does not create an attorney-client relationship. For advice about your specific situation, speak with a licensed Colorado attorney.
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