Statistics show that more than 16,000 car accidents occur every day in the U.S. Not all of them involve injury but many do and thousands of people confront the issue of how to get their medical care paid for?
The answer or answers are variable, often a function of where the accident happened and what sorts of insurance one carries.
Broadly there are four categories into which accident-related medical payments fall.
1). Coverage from the victim's own auto or truck insurance policy. Different states and insurers have different coverages mandated and also ones that the insurers offer for additional monies. Medpay and PIP are well-known such coverages.
2). Health insurance. While health insurers often are resistant to paying for auto accident related care, they are nonetheless obliged to. You or your lawyer may have to push back but sometimes that is what you have to do. You may also be obliged by your policy or Erisa laws to pay them back out of any verdict or settlement.
3). Medicaid or Medicare. Yes it a species of health insurance but it is one that requires some attention because you or your lawyer have to pay it back out of any settlement or verdict.
4). Authorization and Assignment. Some healthcare providers make provision for providing medical care in return for the patient signing a document that requires that they and/or their lawyer withhold from settlement or verdict the costs of the care rendered.
