There are nearly 6 million car accidents in the US annually, and thousands of people lose their lives each year to horrific accidents on the road. If you have recently been in a car accident, you may need medical treatment to deal with the injuries.
However, the question is the same: who pays for this if the car accident was not your fault?
Here is everything you need to know about handling a car accident injury and why you need to work with a personal injury lawyer to get the best compensation.
Who Pays for Medical Treatment?
If you have recently been in a car accident, you may have mounting hospital bills depending on your injuries. Unfortunately, the victim is generally responsible for paying their own medical bills.
This is always essential at the start because hospitals want to be paid immediately instead of negotiating who owes what. Your medical treatment is crucial, so it is always worth dealing with the hospital bills directly to get them out.
Then you and your personal injury lawyer can determine how to receive compensation for all these medical costs. So, even if it is clear that the other driver has been the responsible one for the crash, you will still have to pay your own expenses at the hospital.
It would not be possible to drag the other person kicking and screaming to claim the costs. Patients must go through the proper channels through their lawyers to seek compensation for medical expenses and other damages.
However, the good news is that victims can use their own health insurance to cover their medical costs. This way, the patient can still receive treatment and care while their lawyer prepares their case.
If you are a patient, you should not worry because your lawyer will be able to help obtain a settlement or a verdict. When this happens, you will receive compensation for out-of-pocket expenses.
Your lawyer will collect all your medical documents to prove how much you have to pay out of your pocket. Then they can go after the irresponsible driver who caused your accident to help you recover as many funds as possible.
How Are Bills Paid?
As we mentioned earlier, every injured person is responsible for paying the bills for their medical treatment. However, many car accident and personal injury victims have insurance that significantly helps cover these bills.
Glance over your health insurance. Then take a look at the type and extent of your coverage. Your coverage policy should dictate when the bills will get paid and how.
This information is valuable because it can help you rest assured that you can still receive medical treatment while you and your lawyer sort things out with the at-fault driver. The only thing is it is always best to combine this with your health insurance.
Or else you risk paying too much out-of-pocket, and it is difficult to determine how much compensation you may receive at the end of the case.
No matter who caused the crash, they will eventually be responsible for compensating the victim. But you must wait till they are found liable for the accident.
This will only happen when a jury’s verdict realizes that the other party is the cause of your accident. Alternatively, the driver who caused your car accident can also settle your personal injury claim against them.
Victims Dilemma
It could take months or years after a car crash to determine if the at-fault driver is liable for the crash or not. This creates a significant dilemma for the victims of a car accident.
If someone struggled with financial problems before the accident, they would be worse off after receiving treatment. Hospital bills can be ginormous, depending on the medical treatment received.
So, you may need some funds set aside for a rainy day to pay for medical bills, even if the accident is not your fault. We always recommend getting the best health insurance to protect yourself from such exorbitant costs.
Otherwise, getting medical treatment would be tricky if the patient does not have funds and cannot get compensation immediately. Even though medical bills can give you a bit of a breather, most bills will need to be paid before your case gets settled or reaches a verdict.
This can put a tremendous financial strain on someone surviving a car accident. How the bills are paid will ultimately come down to the victims health insurance coverage.
Your health insurance company will sort this out, so it is always best to have a decent policy.
Then your personal injury lawyer can help you and your loved ones navigate this complex aspect of the law to ensure you receive the fair compensation you deserve to make up for all these upfront hospital expenses. Check out alphaaccidentlawyers.com for more information about personal injury cases.
Medicaid or Private Health Insurance
If you have Medicaid, Medicare, or private health insurance, you should have no issues getting covered for your medical treatment expenses. This is because your insurance company will cover the bills.
However, your coverage can be subject to deductibles and numerous other policy restrictions. As your medical bills arrive from your healthcare providers, you can file a claim with your insurance company.
These claims officially request that your insurance company pay your medical bills according to your insurance policy terms and conditions.
Unfortunately, this can be a slightly tricky process because not all types of treatment conducted by your healthcare service may be covered by your insurance policy.
You are responsible for reviewing all your insurance paperwork to see what is covered in your policy. Otherwise, your insurance company can deny your claim for a payout. If this happens, you must pay all the medical costs out of your pocket.
Patients whose health insurance claims are denied have had to pay for their entire medical treatment on their own.
However, remember that the insurer can reject your claim if your policy does not cover something. They should not refuse to cover costs that are within your policy, or else it will be in poor faith.
Using Med Pay
Do you have med pay or medical payment insurance attached to your car insurance policies? This is excellent because then your insurance coverage will cover your medical bills following a car accident.
But they will only cover you up to your policy limits; you should not see a deductible. Once your med pay policy reaches its limit, you will again be responsible for paying your own medical bills.
Otherwise, you can also get another health insurance company to help offset some of the costs. Many drivers use their med pay coverage to compensate for their high deductible health insurance coverage.
For example, if “Samantha” has been in a car accident, she may accrue around $100,000 in medical bills from her healthcare providers. Even though she has health insurance, her deductible might be as high as $7,000.
If Samantha has med pay coverage, then her car insurance company will end up paying for her initial $7,000. However, if Samantha does not have med pay coverage, she must pay this $7,000 out of her own pocket.
No Health Insurance
Have you been injured in a car accident and do not have health insurance? Many people who get into a car accident may not realize how vital health insurance is.
Even though we hear about car accidents happening constantly, we always think they will never happen to us. Until it does. So, it is always worth getting some form of health insurance to help you out during difficult times.
Otherwise, the patient themselves may be responsible for paying all their hospital bills out of pocket if they do not have the right health insurance coverage.
Many healthcare providers offer payment arrangements to help ease the burden a little. This way, you can negotiate with the hospital to spread the amount you owe over a few years instead of paying everything upfront.
However, your healthcare provider may not be able to help any more than that. If they come up with a payment plan for you, it is your responsibility to fulfill those terms.
Otherwise, if you cannot pay your medical treatment bills, you could end up having to deal with your hospitals collections department. However, your personal injury lawyer can help you get this money back as compensation from the at-fault driver.
What About Medical Liens?
In some cases, most states allow hospital providers to cover an accident victim’s treatment bills. This can be done in exchange for a lien on a patient’s eventual personal injury settlement or verdict.
When a car accident victim is being treated, and they do not have enough insurance coverage to save themselves from financial turmoil, hospitals can request patients to sign a lien letter.
This letter will permit your hospital to recover what is owed to them in bills. They can retrieve these funds from your personal injury case whenever it reaches a verdict.
So, car accident patients who agree to a healthcare lien and sign this letter can be spared from paying all their medical expenses upfront. Then your medical expenses can be recovered from any verdict or settlement made in your case.
No-Fault States?
Some states in the country need drivers to carry no-fault auto insurance. This is also known as PIP insurance or personal injury protection. With this coverage, you will need to pay for some or all your medical bills.
However, the coverage triggers regardless of who causes the accident. No-fault coverage can cover all your medical bills up to your auto insurance policy’s limits.
But when your no-fault limit is reached, the responsibility will once again shift back to the patient or their health insurance company to cover their medical bills.
Find out if your state uses no-fault insurance to apportion the costs of a car crash. Then you can protect yourself more from losing a lot of money upfront, especially when dealing with the injuries and aftermath of surviving a car accident.
Remember that you may need treatment for a very long time, depending on the extent of your injuries.
Personal Injury Verdict
Are you wondering if your insurance company can take a share of your personal injury verdict? Many insurers will have some contractual rights to be reimbursed for the bills they pay on behalf of their client.
The guidelines for this must be included in your insurance policy. Through the process of subrogation, insurance companies can pursue their reimbursements from your personal injury claim.
For example, if John gets hurt in a car accident and gets hit with $30,000 in hospital bills, his insurance policy may only have a $4,000 deductible. This means that if John has to pay the entire bill out of his pocket, his insurance company may pay the difference of $26,000.
After John settles his personal injury claim against the person who hit him for $27,000, his health insurance company can recover the $26,000 they paid for John from his settlement.
Although subrogation can seem harsh when you look at the numbers, it can save a persons life. Imagine if someone was struggling to stay afloat with rent and grocery bills before the car accident.
After the car accident, they will become worse off if they have to pay all their medical bills themselves. So, it helps to have a process like this in place to get some financial support when it is most needed.
Know Your Rights
Every state has laws for dealing with car accidents and bills resulting from medical treatment.
For example, California is a no-fault state. So, this means that the person involved in a car accident will be responsible for paying all their medical bills without the help of their no-fault car insurance.
But the good news is that even uninsured victims can agree to a medical lien against their personal injury settlement. If you enjoyed reading this personal injury guide, check out some of our other posts.
