Car accident medical bills may causes many worries in New York. Depending on your no-fault coverage, a confluence of other worries might pop up if car accident medical bills may be a burden for the injured person. It sounds awesome to be able to waive the bills immediately to the person at fault, but it’s unlikely going to take that dimension in every scenario. Your location, auto policy type, and other intricacies will all factor in to determine who bears the liability for treatment and other costs.
PIP states
Personal injury protection or “PIP” states are those that make it a must-have for drivers to own a personal injury protection coverage. Thankfully, auto policies in such states come with this coverage and you can opt out if so desired. PIP doesn’t factor in who was at fault in the accident and will be critically invaluable in taking care of the car accident medical bills of everyone involved in your car during the crash. It’s also important to note that coverage can be declined for some reasons in a few states. Puerto Rico Texas and Washington are such examples. However, they provide $2,500 and $10,000 coverage respectively. Here are other states with PIP coverage and the amount covered.
Hawaii-10,000
Florida-10,000
Kansas-4,500
Maryland-2,500
Massachusetts-8,000
Kentucky-10,000
Michigan-500,000
Minnesota-40,000
New York-50,000
Utah-3,000
North Dakota-30,000
New Jersey-15,000
Pennsylvania-5,000
Why you should use PIP
The flexibility of use regardless of who caused the accident.
Some states also provide payment for loss of income due to job break.
Can be assessed for a wide range of scenarios.
Doctors can facilitate a seamless use of the coverage.
Cons of using pip
The limited time frame within which a PIP claim can be made based on treatment.
Too broad to know what PIP covers in a particular state.
So it’s important to note that PIP claims can only be made within a time frame, which is usually 14 days in states like Florida. Outside this period, if for some reasons you are unable to see a medical personnel and file a PIP claim, you may have to bear the cost of your treatment. Other states are more flexible and PIP claims can be made up to 2 years of your accident. While PIP is the primary health insurance provider after an accident in most states, it is secondary in others.
It’s therefore vitally important to know how PIP works in your state, the liabilities it covers, your financial position, how much PIP is allocated for your medical expenses and everything needed to breeze past hitches in the occurrence of an accident.
Med Pay or Medical Payments
Med Pay is another option which may not be as popular as PIP. But it sure offers amazing accident treatment benefits when a car crash occurs. The health insurance also bears the cost of treatment regardless of whose ineptitude led to the accident as well as other passengers on your car. However, you’ll have to set your Medical Payments benefit limit, which can be anywhere between $500 -$100,000 or more. Key benefits of Med Pay are:
Fast payments.
Paperwork for Med Pay claim can be done by your doctor.
Provides coverage for all passengers in your car.
Bears liability independent of who caused the accident.
Easy to get started.
Amount of claim benefit selected for one person will be the maximum given.
Cons of med pay
Insurance rates my skyrocket
Your rates may go up, particularly if you caused the accident.
Given its simplicity and ease of use, Med Pay is a huge favorite for many. You may not be expressly notified by your agent of the benefits and structure of Med Pay, so taking time to sort out your Med Pay insurance is surely going to be a great idea.
Paying Your car accident medical bills after a successful claim
Depending on the severity of the crash, treatment can take quite some time. And if you are resident in a state without PIP coverage, it can be a huge nightmare bearing the cost of your treatment. That’s surely not something most people are ready for. You may have the leeway to pay your car accident medical bills at a later time after treatment. And the party at fault will often be responsible for the payment. But you urgently need to get treatment and can’t see a doctor without sufficient funds. How do you go about solving this problem and sort bill payments later? Here’s where an Attorney comes in.
Attorney’s lien
An attorney’s lien is a note given to your doctor by an attorney stating that payment incurred on your treatment will be made after your personal injury case has been concluded. This is not particularly fancied by all doctors and it may be difficult to get an attorney for the agreement too. When a good working relationship exists between the pair, getting an attorney’s lien for your treatment can be very useful if you are cash-strapped.
Medical lien
Similar to an attorney’s lien, a medical lien is an agreement on paper to a doctor stating that you are liable to your treatment expenses which will be made as soon as your insurance company okays your claim demand. Just as in an attorney’s lien, not all doctors may be fine with this approach with many patients going aloof after receiving their insurance claim funds.
Third-party billing
Here, doctors directly bill the blameworthy’s insurance firm for your treatment cost. It also involves an arrangement that allows a doctor to directly bill through PIP or Med Pay. Third party billing often looks the best approach for sorting out treatment expenses after a car crash. But not all medics prefer this method even though it eliminates the need for an attorney.
Who pays for my medical bills after a car accident?
There is no one-size-fits-all approach as to who pays your car accident medical bills. Depending on your state, a PIP or Med Pay coverage could be all you need to get up to speed on paying for your treatment. Since it may not be included unless requested, it’s also crucial to inform your Insurance agent to include Med Pay coverage. A car accident is enough trauma, eliminate the hassles of treatment with all the options abound and you should be all set to hit the road on your next trip.