Who is Responsible to Pay Medical Bills After a Car Accident?

Dexter Evans

In an Auto accident?  Who Should Be Paying Your Bills Right Now?

You were just in a car accident. The medical bills are piling up and you do not want your bills to go into collections and ruin your credit.  You would assume that the other driver’s insurance should be taking care of these bills as you incur them. Unfortunately, that is not the way it works.

In Illinois, the insurance company for the person who caused the accident (and your injuries) is not required to pay your medical bills piecemeal. Stated differently, the other driver’s insurance company will not pay your bills as you receive them. They will make an offer of settlement which includes your medical bills once a demand is submitted.  Often, the insurance company will offer less than the medical bills because of some suggestion that they did a cost assessment which suggests you were over billed for services.

So how do you get your bills paid while waiting for your case to resolve?  The first source you should consider is your health insurance.  Why?  When your health insurance carrier pays a medical bill, it almost certainly gets a provider discount.  Under Illinois law, you are entitled to payment of your full medical bill, not just what insurance paid.  While your health insurance carrier will almost certainly demand reimbursement out of any settlement you receive, if you have an attorney, they must automatically reduce the reimbursement amount by one-third (1/3) (unless the plan is a self-insured plan under a federal statute called ERISA).  For example, let’s say you have medical bills totaling $10,000.  Your health insurance paid $6,000 after discounts.  Assuming you have an attorney, you only have to reimburse your health insurance carrier $4,000.

If you do not have health insurance or health insurance refuses to pay for some reason, the next source to look to is your own car insurance.  If you have full coverage on your vehicle, you should have medical payments coverage up to a certain amount.  Your car insurance medical payments coverage will pay any medical bills up to the limits you have for that particular coverage.  If you have an attorney working on the case, your car insurance carrier must reduce their reimbursement amount by the same one-third (1/3) as health insurance stated above.  Why not use your car insurance over your health insurance?  Because unlike your health insurance carrier, your car insurance carrier does not get discounts when paying the bills.

The last avenue if you neither have health insurance nor medical payments coverage is to request that the medical provider put a lien on the case.  When a lien is put on a case, it means that the medical provider must be reimbursed out of the settlement.  Typically, this will help you avoid having your medical bills put into collections.  Your attorney can also try and negotiate a reduction of the bills.

Being injured in an accident is bad enough.  You should not have the added stress of trying to figure out how to pay your medical bills after a car accident and protect your good credit standing.  If you have been in an accident, you should contact a personal injury attorney for a free consultation.  The attorneys at Woodruff Johnson & Evans have several years of experience dealing with the exact issues detailed above.

Categories:

Highly recommended!

Highly recommended! Smooth process and great communication. Two thumbs up!   – Marek P.   […]

Big thank you to Attorney DJ Evans

Big thank you to Attorney DJ Evans for helping me with my PI case. Had a terrible car accident which I was not at fault for legally but my car was totaled and I sustained injuries that impacted my work. The at faults insurance tried to manipulate me into taking 2k which was ridiculous for […]

Jay Johnson was fabulous

Jay Johnson was fabulous, he kept me up-to-date and informed of every step. Very happy with his service and I would highly recommend him.       – Dawn S. […]

Very helpful.

Very helpful. I was able to put most of it away into an emergency fund.         – Christine […]

Got a Settlement Quicker Than I Expected and Better Than I Expected!

My second time with Leandro A. at Woodruff Johnson and Evans. Another great job. Didn’t have to talk with work comp at all this time since I told work comp I don’t trust them after the first occurrence with them. Got a settlement quicker than I expected and better than I expected. Thanks to Leandro […]

Brian M.

Attorney Dexter Evans: Professional, Responsive and Took Care of Business. Highly Recommended. You Will Not Be Disappointed!

Dexter Evans handled my case for a motor vehicle incident. I would like to inform you that he was very professional, responsive, and took care of business. Whenever I had a question they were very quick to respond and handled everything for me. If it wasn’t Dexter then Nicole was right there. I highly recommend […]

Otis S

Go to the Doctor. Do the Tests. Get the Diagnostics. Hire Leandro Alhambra!

Leandro Alhambra took on my workman’s comp case and did a great job getting a good return back. I had him take on the case late (2 years after the incident) and he still was able to provide a good amount of compensation. Advice to anyone reading: go to the doctor, do the tests and […]

Nelson V

Leandro A. Alhambra Fights to Get Every Dollar for his Clients

I used Leandro A. Alhambra for my workmans comp. case. I see in him that he fights to get every dollar for his clients to be satisfied of the […]

Daniel H

Their Office Represented Me Very Well

I felt that their office represented me very well with a very difficult people to deal with. The process took a long time but at the end they were able to close the deal. I want to thank you for the support and ability to answer any and all questions I had during this process. […]

DJ

Attorney Leandro “Lee” Alhambra has given me and my family a peace of mind that I am much grateful for.

My experience with Woodruff Johnson & Evans has been a blessing. My attorney Lee has been such a professional but also a friend that has walked me through many of the things that I had no knowledge of or what I should do next. He has given me and my family a peace of mind […]

Michael K.
View All Testimonials

Get Your Free Consultation

"*" indicates required fields

This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.