Car Accident Without Health Insurance: A Guide
Ending up injured in a car crash with no health insurance may seem like a complicated thing. The main question is – who will pay your medical treatment, lost wages and other financial expenses?
People who don’t have health insurance may get compensation once they complete a personal injury claim or win a lawsuit. Such things take a long time, sometimes even months, and you need money to pay your medical bills right ahead. Going through this process alone can be quite challenging; a Hickory car accident injury lawyer can help you with such a case.
Why Can’t the Person Who Caused the Accident Pay You?
Even if you did not have any fault in the accident, the responsibility for paying the medical bills is yours. Unfortunately, the law does not require the person who caused the accident to pay for your medical bills.
The law requires the person at fault must pay you only the damages to settle your lawsuit. If you don’t have insurance and got injured in an accident, you can still find some methods that will help you pay your medical bills.
No-Fault Insurance
No-fault car insurance is applied in more than a dozen states. It means that your automobile insurer will pay some or all of your medical bills and lost wages if you were involved in a car accident.
The claim with this type of insurance is called PIP (Personal Injury Protection Claim) and is different in every state. In some states, there is a cost limit when it comes to medical bills; your insurer will not pay for everything. If you were involved in an accident that has no-fault insurance, talk to your car accident attorney, and learn your rights.
Medicaid
This is a federal health insurance program that is providing health insurance to people with low incomes. It is provided through state agencies. The federal government will not provide the health insurance directly to you, but it will send the funds to the states, and the states will run the health insurance programs.
In case you get injured in an accident but don’t have health insurance or have lost your job because of your injuries, you are qualified to get Medicaid. This is not welfare, but a health insurance program that is created by the government to help people with low incomes.
Go to your state’s Medicaid office and check if you can get Medicaid. If you are qualified, Medicaid will pay your medical bills (forthcoming, but also pas bills; it depends on your state’s Medicaid laws regulations).
Medical Payment Coverage
Some insurance policies (automobile and property) have medical payment insurance coverage (often called “med pay”). “Med pay” will cover the medical bill of the injured person in an accident caused by the one who is insured. It has its limits that are less than $10 000.
In case your bills are higher than the “med pay” limits, it is your responsibility to cover them. If you are involved in an accident in a state that has no-fault insurance, and you seek compensation without having insurance, you need to learn if the other person has “med pay” coverage. If they do have it, the person’s insurance policy will pay you a partial amount of your medical bills.
Payment, Bills and Injury Lien With No Health Insurance
You are not the first person who got injured in a car accident and had no health insurance. Healthcare practitioners are fully aware that some of their patients have no insurance, but they are still willing to help them and arrange things about payments.
Some health care providers will agree to treat you, but you will have to promise to pay the bills from the returns of your settlements or verdict. Your health provider will ask you to sign a personal injury lien, which is later sent to your lawyer. A lien is a contract between you and your physician, which requires your lawyer to pay the health care provider from the settlement or verdict before you get money from the case.
If you were injured in a car accident (no matter even if you have partial fault) and have no insurance, the best thing you can do is contact a car accident or personal injury lawyer.
Contact Harman Law today and let our attorneys take your case; schedule your first free consultation and let us help you find the best way to pay your medical bills.
