Many personal injury claims are exactly what they sound like: Somebody’s been hurt by someone else’s wrongdoing. Injuries require attention, and medical care isn’t free.
Medical providers want to get paid just like everyone else, and treatment-related bills account for the most common type of damages in a personal injury action. As a rule of thumb, people are more concerned with if they’re getting paid than who the money is coming from. Another general rule: For-profit service providers don’t love it when they patch you up and receive an IOU for their trouble.
You can’t blame a medical provider for trying to get paid, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t protect yourself against some of their more aggressive collection practices. Watch out for a provider who tries to exploit the medical payments policy included in your auto insurance. The medical payments policy is commonly called med pay, and it isn’t automatically included. You have to request it.
If you have it, med pay generally has the ability to pay for treatment regardless of who caused the incident. This makes it a great resource for someone who’s trying to achieve a physical recovery without getting sent to collections. The catch is, it’s not free money. It needs to be repaid. After your case, your auto insurance company will seek reimbursement for any med pay expenditures. People in the insurance business call this process subrogation.
Med pay can definitely be abused. If someone is accessing the med pay portion of your insurance policy, it’s important to make sure the right people are getting paid. You need to prioritize, because if you have unpaid bills, there’s nothing you can do to keep your account from being turned over to a collection agency.
If med pay is used correctly, it can help relieve financial pressure while you focus on physical recovery. To make sure your insurance money is being allocated wisely and efficiently, call the experienced litigation attorneys at the Marc Lopez Law Firm at 317-632-3642. The consultation doesn’t cost you anything, and we don’t get paid unless you do.
