A very common question is who pays my medical bills after my Utah car accident case?
Here is the general rules of who pays, how they pay and what order.
Example. Juab County I-15 Rear-Ender. You are rear-ended at high speed on I-15 just outside of Nephi City, Juab County. Your medical bills are the following: Ambulance, $2,500. ER Visit, $4,500. Family Doctor, $550. Physical Therapist, $6,000.
Here is how these medical bills from the car accident are paid.
(1). Utah Personal Injury Protection Benefits (“PIP”). If you had a Utah issued car policy of insurance you will have at-least $3,000 in medical pay benefits associated with your own car policy of insurance to start paying for your medical bills.
PIP medical pay will pay up to $3,000 or more if you have a higher PIP limit. PIP is primary medical pay and must pay first before any other medical pay provider kicks in to start paying your medical bills.
Sometimes there are multiple PIP policies that you can stack on top of each other. A good Utah car accident lawyer is always watching to ensure all car policies of insurance are noted in your car accident case.
(2). Private Health Care Insurance. Blue Cross, Select Health, DMBA, Etc. Your own private health care insurance policy, if you have one, will kick into pay your medical bills according to your policy. Generally your private health care policy will not pay anything until your PIP benefits are exhausted and your attorney provides them with an exhaustion letter.
Further you will have to abide by our policy deductible requirements before your private health care insurance company will start paying your car accident bills. Remember: Most private health care policies will have a lien against your car accident settlement and you will be required to pay them back for the care they paid for.
(3). Medicaid. Medicare. If you qualify for government Medicare or Medicaid, those government benefits will start paying for your car accident bills if you don’t have private health care insurance and PIP is exhausted.
(4). Lien Basis Medical Care. Your most expensive choice and your last choice to pay for medical care related to a car accident is lien based care. When you don’t have private health care insurance or government medical care, lien based medical care can allow you to get the care you need, but it definitely costs more.
Example Shoulder Surgery. You are in a car accident on I-15, near American Fork. The seat belt tears your labrum. Had you had private health care insurance it would have costs $15,000 for the shoulder surgery. With a lien based shoulder surgery it now costs $25,000 because a medical funding company is funding your surgery, rather than your private health care insurance company.
Example Physical Therapy Lien Based Care. You have not private health care insurance to pay for your physical therapy. Instead the doctor allows you to bill a lien for your physical therapy. Normally your insurance company would pay $90 per visit, but on lien based physical therapy you will pay the full billed amount of $150 per visit.
(5). Cash Pay. When you don’t have insurance. You can always pay cash for your medical care. You can often get a reduced rate when you pay cash. Cash pay is rarely used because who has that money when you are hurt and can’t work.
(6). Wait Until Your Settlement. Sometimes people think just because they are in a car accident and it wasn’t their fault that the medical providers will not try to collect for services rendered. Sometimes medical providers will stay their collections actions, but not always. The basic rule is when you receive medical services, those medical providers expect to get paid and don’t care that you were in a car accident, or maybe have a settlement coming.
A good personal car accident personal injury is tracking all your bills and help you understand who is waiting to get paid and who needs to be paid immediately.
(7). YOU, YOU and YOU. At the end of the day, you are always responsibility. Hiring a good Utah personal injury attorney near you will help find ways to get the bills paid.