When you are injured in an accident, whether a car accident, slip-and-fall, or other, you should be aware that your treatment for accident-related injuries can be paid from a number of different sources. Some of these payment sources could be:
· Private health insurances such as Anthem BlueCross, Cigna, UnitedHealth
· Medicaid, which is primarily for low-income people
· Medicare, which is primarily for older people
· Medpay, short for medical payments insurance, which is available from the injured person’s car insurance if purchased ahead of time
· Liens, which is an “IOU” that you promise to pay from your future settlement or judgment
In many cases, these sources of payment expect to be reimbursed by you from an injury settlement. Learning that you owe what could be thousands of dollars from your settlement, is often a nasty surprise for people trying to settle their injury claims without the help of an experienced injury attorney.
Recently, we helped a retired military member who was injured after a fall on of a dangerous sidewalk leading into a business. In this case, there were several sources of payment we discovered for her medical care, some of which she was not even aware of.
· Tricare, which is for certain military personnel
· Medicare, which she received due to her age
· Medpay insurance was received from the negligent business’s commercial general insurance
· Liability insurance was received from the negligent business's liability insurance
All of these insurance policies had different adjusters, different claim numbers and different contract provisions at play.
While keeping the whole injury settlement by not retaining a lawyer appears great in theory, it is very beneficial to have an expert help guide you through the many steps of an injury case. From finding all the relevant insurance sources, positioning one insurance to pay off the reimbursement rights of another source, negotiating down liens/subrogation demands, satisfying liens/subrogation demands so that you are not getting scary collection notices months or longer down the road…
All of these are some of the real and valuable benefits of having a personal injury attorney represent you on your claim.
If you are injured and have questions about how your medical treatment was or can be paid, or if you're wondering about an insurers’ rights to reimbursement (known as subrogation), please call us. We are experts in insurance coverages and how the different coverages work with each other. We are always happy to chat.
Insurance can be layered and complicated. Not understanding insurance and failing to deal with it on the front end can cause months or more of stress and anxiety. Worse yet, not dealing with some insurers, like Medicare, can jeopardize your future medical coverage.
Get peace of mind and a larger settlement from your claim by working with Chris Parks Law, an experienced personal injury and insurance law firm.
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