Many people wonder how to pay for medical bills after a car accident. Should it be health insurance, car insurance, or the other driver’s insurance? Or should you just wait until the other driver’s insurance company finally pays before paying the medical bills? These are complicated questions and the right answer can vary by case.
Medical Payments Coverage
Medical payments insurance coverage (often called “med pay”) covers medical bills after a car accident regardless of fault. This is different than liability insurance, which requires that an insurance company or court decide fault before making payments. Often it can take months or years for that decision to be made. The advantage of the medical payments coverage is that payment is automatic, and can help pay medical bills right away. Policy limits are usually somewhere between $1,000 and $25,000 so it will cover many common accidents. In the case of a catastrophic injury, however, Med Pay will not go far.
Health Insurance v. Med Pay
There was a longstanding dispute between New Hampshire personal injury lawyers and insurance companies about what should happen when health insurance pays for medical bills. Often, when a lawsuit is settled, the victim is required to pay back their health insurance company out of the settlement. What injury lawyers recommend, when available, is then making a claim on the driver’s medical payments coverage to replace the money being paid back to the health insurance company. The law about this is very dense and confusing.
The Court Weighs In
Finally, the legal community received some clarity on this issue. The New Hampshire Supreme Court ruled last month that car accident victims can claim medical payments coverage to replace the money they must reimburse to a health insurer. Injury lawyers like us welcomed this news. The ruling expands our ability to help our clients receive full compensation
Paying for Medical Bills After a Car Accident
Under our justice system, a plaintiff only has one chance at recovery. If someone else injured you in a car accident, you might think, as many do, that you can continuously submit medical bills to the other driver’s insurance company. That’s not how it works though. In fact, personal injury lawyers recommend that you wait until treatment is complete, or as close to it as possible, before making a claim.
The problem for many is how to pay for medical bills in the meantime? Our car accident lawyers having significant experience dealing with all types of insurance in helping clients navigate these issues.
