Medicare regulations allow MediCal to place a lien on and recover medical expenses it paid for a plaintiff due to injuries suffered by reason of a third party tortfeasor’s wrongs. However, the MediCal recovery may be made only from the portion of any recovery by the plaintiff for past medical expenses, not from other portions of the award or settlement. The court determines what part of a settlement should be allocated to past medical expenses; the settling party’s allocation is not controlling. Here, the trial court failed to equitably allocate the settlement to medical expenses and other elements of damage, so its award to MediCal was reversed.