After establishing your right to recover, the next step is to determine if there are insurance companies who are liable for payment of your damages. At times, more than one insurance company may be liable. If the at-fault party carried no insurance, there may be other parties with a legal relationship to the at-fault party who have insurance.

The laws pertaining to the different types of insurance coverages and the right of insurance companies to be reimbursed (“subrogation”) can be quite complex. There are times when liability insurance companies rightfully or wrongfully deny that their insurance policies will cover negligent parties. There are also times when your own insurance company may rightfully or wrongfully deny that your insurance policy will cover your claims.

Uninsured/Underinsured Motorist Coverage

Sometimes, the negligent party has no insurance, and no other party is responsible for the accident. In these situations, you may have the right to pursue claims against your own insurance company for uninsured motorist (UM) benefits.

If the negligent party had insurance but its limits were not adequate to cover your damages, you may have the right to pursue claims for underinsured motorist (UIM) benefits against your own insurance company.

If you were a passenger in someone else’s vehicle, you may have the right to pursue claims for UM or UIM benefits from the insurance company that insured the vehicle and/or your own insurance company.

Health/Disability and Medical Payments Insurance Coverages

You may also have other coverage that provides benefits to you for damage caused by someone else’s negligence. Medical payments (med pay) coverage is a type of coverage that you can purchase through your own auto insurance company for the purpose of covering your accident-related medical bills.

If you have disability, mortgage, or auto loan insurance, you should also take advantage of those policies.

Workers’ Compensation

If your accident occurred while you were working on the job, you may have the right to recover workers’ compensation benefits, which includes coverage for your accident-related medical bills. However, benefits under workers’ compensation laws will rarely fully compensate you for the damages caused by an accident. You also have the right to seek compensation from the at-fault party and his or her insurance company, but your workers’ compensation carrier may be entitled to a portion of that recovery.

Consult with an attorney.

It is always best to talk to an experienced attorney as soon as possible so that a lawyer can help you understand the different types of insurance coverages that may affect your personal injury claims. Contact our attorneys to schedule a consultation to discuss your case.

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When you are in an accident and you are not at-fault, it can be very frustrating to get medical bills in the mail for the treatment you have received for your accident-related injuries. So who pays for these medical bills if you are not at-fault?

“This wasn’t my fault! Why do I have to pay anything?”

We hear this question frequently. Despite what people think would be most fair, the at-fault insurance company almost never pays a victim’s medical bills up-front. If you have been injured in an accident and you were not at-fault, there is often coverage for your medical bills aside from the at-fault insurance that may be available.

Ordinarily, you should send your medical bills to your own health insurance company first. Medical payments (med pay) coverage is a type of coverage that you can purchase through your own auto insurance company for the purpose of covering your accident-related medical bills. If you have available med pay coverage on your own automobile insurance policy, this insurance should be used to cover things like deductibles, co-pays, and expenses that are not covered by your available health insurance.

However, sometimes there is a disagreement between your auto med pay and health insurance as to who should pay your bills first. The outcome of this disagreement is important to you because having to turn to med pay first can result in med pay coverage being exhausted by just one large hospital bill. If your med pay coverage is quickly exhausted, you will be left paying co-pays and deductibles and other non-covered expenses entirely out-of-pocket. An experienced attorney can help you maximize the coverage available to you.

Depending upon the terms of your health insurance contract or med pay contract and the various laws that apply, a company making payments towards your accident-related medical bills may seek to be repaid out of the proceeds of your settlement — this concept is called “subrogation.” However, the right of subrogation is not absolute, and it should be evaluated by an experienced attorney.

Worker’s Compensation.

If your accident occurred while you were working on the job, you may have the right to recover worker’s compensation benefits, which includes coverage for your accident-related medical bills. However, benefits under worker’s compensation laws will rarely fully compensate you for the damages caused by an accident. You also have the right to seek compensation from the at-fault party and his or her insurance company, but your worker’s compensation carrier may be entitled to a portion of that recovery.

Consult with an attorney.

It is always best to talk to an experienced attorney as soon as possible so that a lawyer can help you understand who pays medical bills if you are not at-fault. Contact our attorneys to schedule a consultation to discuss your case.

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Almost always, yes there are medical record access charges.

Health care providers must abide by the “Schedule of Health Care Provider Records Fees” if they choose to charge a patient, or a person authorized by the patient, for copies of the patient’s medical records.

Pursuant to section 146.83(3f)(c)2., each July 1, the Department of Health Services is required to adjust the dollar amounts specified under section 146.83(3f)(b) that a health care provider may charge for providing copies of a patient’s health care records.

The statutes also provide that a health care provider may not charge a patient or a person authorized by the patient more than 25% of the applicable fee for providing one set of copies of a patient’s health care records if the patient is eligible for medical assistance. A health care provider may require that a patient or person authorized by the patient provide proof that the patient is eligible for medical assistance before providing copies at a reduced charge. However, a health care provider may charge 100 percent of the applicable fees if a second or additional set of copies of patient health care records is requested by a patient who is eligible for medical assistance. This “reduced fee exception” does not apply if the health care provider is the Department of Health Services or the Department of Corrections.