The Best Ways to Cover Medical Expenses After an Accident

The Best Ways to Cover Medical Expenses After an Accident

Sorry to say, but the other guy’s insurance can legally avoid paying your medical bills.  Unless you settle your case with them right now, they won’t pay for anything but the damage to your car, they especially won't cover medical expenses after an accident.

However, most cases are settled out of court.  But, you should never settle before you have finished treatment with a doctor.  By that, I mean when your doctor says you’re at MMI (maximum medical improvement) and releases you.  If you don’t follow this critical rule, you take a huge and unnecessary risk.  Why?  Because if you settle and then get worse, or discover more health problems related to your accident injury later, you’re out of luck.  According to our experienced Lincoln personal injury attorney, once you settle with an insurance company, you can’t go back and ask for more money.

Using MedPay Coverage

You may be thinking, “How can I get the care I need if I have no health insurance, Medicaid, or Medicare available, and I don’t have the money to pay for it?”

You should seek MedPay from your own auto insurance policy. MedPay is insurance money available under most all auto policies to pay for your medical bills resulting from an auto accident.

Typically, MedPay insurance money is available in amounts up to $2,500 to $5,000.  A nice boost in paying for your medical treatment.

If your injuries are serious, I’m quite sure that even $5,000 in MedPay will not pay for all of your medical expenses.  You should now consider hiring an experienced injury attorney.  Why?  Because, again, to be successful in your personal injury case, you must medically treat until you have reached MMI.  You might as well get an attorney involved early in your case so that he/she can be anticipating how to help you continue treating even after the MedPay is used up.

However, if you want to seek MedPay yourself, it should be do-able.  Your first step is to call your auto insurance agent and ask how much MedPay is available.  Your agent should know about your auto accident anyway, so it is a good idea to put them on notice.  Unfortunately, few agents will come forward and contact you about this coverage if you don’t ask.

Your next step is to submit your medical bills to your insurance representative and request that they are paid by using your MedPay.  Make sure you do this in writing and save a copy of your letter, and a copy of the bills you send, for your own records.  Then ask for written confirmation when these bills have been paid.

Don’t worry about harming, or increasing, your insurance rates by using MedPay.  If the accident was not your fault, your rates should not be affected.

Options After MedPay

What if your medical bills exceed your MedPay?  How do you continue to treat?

You hire a personal injury attorney to contact your medical providers to review Nebraska Medical Lien Law with them.  The law provides that if a medical provider submits a lien in your personal injury case, that medical provider gets paid before you do.  In other words, when your case concludes, and the other guy’s insurance pays out an award for your damages, the medical lien will be paid first, and the balance will be paid to you.

Although this legal concept is pretty simple, many medical providers want to know that you are working with an attorney before they will agree to this medical lien approach.  Quite naturally, they are concerned about gambling with payment in the future, unless you have engaged an experienced lawyer who will make sure the award is large enough to cover the medical expenses in your case.  At Steffens Law Offices, our Lincoln personal injury attorney will contact any reluctant medical provider, and encourage them to file a lien with us.  We have even gone so far as to prepare the lien for them.

Avoid a Lapse in Treatment

The critical mistake that you must avoid is a lapse in treatment. To be successful in your case, you must treat medically until your doctors say they can do nothing more for you.

Implementing these techniques discussed above can be tricky, so strongly consider hiring an experienced Lincoln personal injury attorney before you make mistakes in your case that cannot be repaired.

Contact Our Lincoln Personal Injury Attorney Right Now!

If you have any questions regarding this guide, or about your case in general, call our experienced Lincoln personal injury attorney or contact us online to further discuss your issue without charge.