How Do My Medical Bills Get Paid After an Accident Caused by Someone Else?
Even an out-patient trip to the emergency room can result in thousands of dollars in medical bills. Severe injuries – including those that may require days or even weeks of hospitalization will usually be in the tens of thousands of dollars.
Hospitals and others who provide treatment often will begin billing patients within a week or two of treatment. They are not concerned with waiting until a patient is healed to pay their bills; they want to be paid now. As a result, if you’ve been injured, it’s important to retain an attorney as soon as practical so that everything possible can be done in seeking immediate payment from insurance companies and others who may be responsible.
I and my office help obtain and coordinate such payments. There is no additional charge or fee for assistance in these matters; the office’s fee is taken from any settlement or judgment recovered on your behalf.
Don’t wait for the bills to come in – please contact me as soon as possible to get started.
Seeking Medical Bill Compensation from Vehicle Accidents
For motor vehicle accidents, the medical bill payments you are entitled to receive are dependent on the State in which you bought the insurance policy and the insurance policy itself.
Massachusetts Personal Injury Protection Benefits
In Massachusetts, the injured are generally entitled to Personal Injury Protection Benefits through the automobile insurance for the car in which they were located when the accident occurred. Personal Injury Protection Benefits in Massachusetts are capped at eight thousand dollars of benefits attributable to medical bills unless additional coverage was previously purchased.
If you have health insurance, your first two thousand dollars of medical bills will be paid by these Personal Injury Protection Benefits. All medical bills after the first two thousand dollars are covered by your health insurance so long as you complied with your health insurance requirements (e.g. obtaining necessary referrals). The remaining six thousand dollars of benefits will be applied to lost wages, deductibles, co-pays and items not covered by your health insurance.
If you do not have health insurance, the eight thousand dollars of Personal Injury Protection Benefits can be freely applied to medical bills, lost wages, co-pays, etc. Once this eight thousand dollars is used, medical bills must be paid out of pocket. While it may not seem fair that you have to pay for medical bills out of pocket, any out of pocket expenses are considered during settlement negotiation and usually increase your settlement.
New Hampshire
In New Hampshire, where insurance is not required, individuals can purchase motor vehicle insurance that has medical bill payment coverage (“med pay”) in varying amounts. The typical minimum amount of such coverage is one thousand dollars, although higher limits may be purchased. Therefore in New Hampshire the first one thousand dollars of medical bills will be paid for by your automobile insurance, with the remainder being covered by health insurance or out of pocket. Much like in Massachusetts, out of pocket expenses are utilized in negotiating a settlement.
How I Help
Since 2002 I have been helping clients coordinate their medical bill payments and in seeking the compensation to which they are entitled, including compensation from their own insurance policies. Please call me at your convenience so that I and my office may assist you.
More Information About My Injury & Accident Practice
- Personal injury
- Wrongful death
- Car & Vehicle Accidents
- Common Causes of Car Accidents
- Lowell Car Accident Lawyer
- Drunk Driver Accidents
- Hit & Run Accidents
- Bicycle Accidents and Crashes
- Pedestrian injury and wrongful death
- Dog Bites
- Catastrophic Injuries
- Slips and Falls
- Construction Accidents
- Truck Accidents
- Fires & Explosions
- Snow & Ice Injuries
- Lowell Lawyer for Slip and Fall on Ice or Snow
- Inadequate Maintenance
- Brain Injuries
- Birth Injuries
- Billerica Injury Lawyer
FAQs
- Do Pre-Existing Conditions Matter in Injury Accidents?
- How Do My Medical Bills Get Paid After an Accident Caused by Someone Else?
- What Should I Do if I’m Involved in a Car Accident?
- How is Pain and Suffering Determined?
- What is a Day in the Life Video?
What Our Clients Are Saying About Paul King
“I have used Attorney King personally and well as referred several of my clients to him. Without exception, Attorney King has under-promised and over-delivered on his work. That is to say, he tells his clients the truth of their cases, the real liklihood of success or failure and then proceeds to meet or exceed those expectations with a passion and professional expertise I have rarely seen.”
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