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Who Should Pay for Medical Bills After an Accident?
Have you been injured in a car accident or some other type of accident? Are you wondering who should pay your medical bills from the accident? Understanding who is liable for paying your medical bills after being hurt in a car accident, motorcycle accident, or any other type of accident is crucial to making sure you are fairly compensated for your injuries.
Amidst recovering from the mental and physical ordeal, you should not have to worry about how to pay for it all. So, who pays for medical bills after an accident?
The answer is—it depends. Many things can factor into who is liable to pay and who isn’t liable for medical bills after an accident in the state of Illinois. A trusted, experienced accident injury attorney at Onward Injury Law can help you get the most out of your accident settlement.
Should You Bill Your Own Insurance Company?
At the outset, health insurance, if available, should be your primary method of paying medical bills. Your health insurance is purely for that purpose. This method makes it seem that your insurance company is covering the accident-related medical expenses for the at-fault party. In reality, however, they will probably be entitled to reimbursement from the settlement funds for the costs they incur on your behalf.
You should use your health insurance to pay bills after a car accident whenever feasible because it protects you. Your medical providers will be promptly paid if you use your health insurance, which makes it easier for you to receive continued medical care and ensure that your condition does not deteriorate due to unpaid medical expenses.
The fact is, doing this will assist in keeping you out of collections from your medical debt. Insurance companies may use the fact that you go into collections to pressure you into accepting a lowball settlement offer, they know you want to ensure your car accident medical bills are paid and they often use that to make you accept an offer lower than you deserve.
If you don’t have health insurance or if your insurance won’t pay, consider filing a claim with your car insurance company. If your car is fully insured, you should have up to a specific amount of medical coverage. If neither insurance nor medical payment coverage is available to you, your final option is to ask the healthcare practitioner to place a lien on the case.
A lien means the medical provider must be paid from the settlement when one is placed on a case. This will typically assist you in preventing the collection of your medical debt.
Submit Documents to Health Insurance Companies Early
You risk losing the opportunity to submit your medical bills to your health insurer altogether if you don’t do so within a set deadline—be it six months, a year, or any other—that your particular health insurance company may have. So that you don’t miss a payment deadline, you should send your bills to your health insurance provider early.
You will need an itemized bill from your doctor to submit an insurance claim to your health insurer. Every service you had will need to be listed on the bill, along with the price and a unique code the insurance company will require to process your claim. An experienced accident attorney can help you communicate with your health insurance provider. Some insurance companies tend to respond more promptly to requests from attorneys.
Capitalize on Discounts for Medical Treatment
The third and last reason you should submit your medical bills to your health insurance is that your insurance company has already negotiated substantial savings on all forms of medical care on your behalf.
Furthermore, you should be entitled to the savings already reached on your behalf because you have been paying more than usual. The recovery to you after your case will be significantly higher if you have run all of your medical costs through your group health insurance before the dust settles in new cases over if you have benefited from those reductions.
Experienced Personal Injury Lawyers In Bloomington, Illinois
After an accident, dealing with injuries is a difficult and frequently stressful process. You should be able to focus on your healing and getting your life back on track, not stressing about how you will pay for your medical treatment and other problems. If you need help fighting the insurance company to get a maximum settlement on your personal injury case, contact a car accident lawyer at Onward Injury Law. An experienced personal injury lawyer will handle the legal paperwork, fight for your rights, and help you receive the compensation you deserve.
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