You get in your car to head out for a day and never see an accident coming. That’s how it happens. No one ever expects an accident, and it’s never something you can say you saw coming. When an accident occurs, you might be very lucky and experience no injuries. The best thing you can do is go to the doctor for a check-up as soon as the accident occurs even if you don’t feel you’re injured. There are too many dangerous injuries that aren’t immediately visible, and there are many accident injuries that are never visible. Your health demands you get checked out immediately. Things that go uncared for take longer to heal, and they often become a lot more serious. Don’t take a chance.
Car Accidents and Health Insurance
If you are injured in an accident, you’ll seek medical attention. It might be a minor injury that requires some medication and a few days of rest, some stitches, or even a minor surgery. Other injuries are serious, and they might require ample time in the hospital, major surgery, and a long road to recovery. Who pays for that? You are not going to find the at-fault driver’s insurance company paying any of your medical bills right away, which means you’ll use your health insurance and pay that way.
If you have to meet your deductible, you’ll do that. if you have to pay co-pays each time you see the doctor, you’ll do that. You’ll use your health insurance to help lower the cost of your out-of-pocket expenses, and you’ll certainly make a point to go after the at-fault driver for reimbursement of your medical expenses. This is their fault, and you’re not financially responsible for their issues.
Lawsuits and Health Insurance
Now that you’re the victim of someone else’s negligence, you have so many questions and very few answers. One of the questions you’ll ask over the course of your recovery is what happens to your health insurance if you choose to file a lawsuit. You want to receive damages for the injuries you sustained, to cover the cost of your medical bills, and to recover any other damages. Will this affect your health insurance? It all depends.
Private Health Insurance
If you’re involved in an accident that’s caused by someone else, you can use your insurance when you go to the hospital. However, know that this company wants their share of insurance money paid to them when you win your case. This is money they wouldn’t have to pay if a third party didn’t cause your accident, and your damages will go toward reimbursing them for their payments.
Medicaid
If you are on Medicaid when you are injured, you’ll find you might repay a portion of what the bills cost the state. This is only if a third party is to blame. If you are partially to blame for the accident, then you will not have to repay all the money they paid for your medical coverage.
State/Federal Health Care
This might include Medicare or Worker’s Compensation. If they pay for any of your medical bills after an accident occurs, each policy states you are required to pay them back. If you reach a settlement with a third party to blame of your accident, you’ll need to issue them repayment for all the medical bills they provided payment for since the accident.
Failure to Pay
There are several things that might occur if you fail to pay. The most important thing you can do is remember that the insurance company you use will find out if you win a settlement against a third party for causing your accident. If you win your settlement and refuse to pay the health insurance company what they are due, they will go after you. Depending on where you live, you might find your insurance company first cancels your policy. Then they’ll come after you with their own attorneys to sue for repayment.
If this is the case and you go to court over this, know the insurance company will likely win the case. The best thing you can do it speak to a personal injury attorney about the cost of the medical bills paid by the insurance company you use before you decide on a settlement amount. You have every right to ask that the damages you receive cover these costs so you’re not out-of-pocket repaying the bills paid by an insurance company.
Partial Fault
One thing to keep in mind is the amount of fault issued at the accident. While you don’t want to be at-fault for your accident, it might save you the money you’d have to pay the insurance company for your medical treatment. Your health insurance provider is only allowed to ask for reimbursement if you are not to blame for the accident. If you are named a partial cause of the accident, you will not have to repay your insurance company.
Health insurance is a major question when it comes to car accidents, which is why so many people want to talk to a personal injury attorney to find out their rights. Call when you are involved in an accident so one can discuss your case, what you might owe an insurance company following an accident, and anything else you might want to consider before you file a lawsuit for an accident you did not cause.