Getting Medical Bills Paid

Utah Vehicle Accident Medical Care

If you were injured in a Utah vehicle accident you have medical bills. How do you get them paid?

Here are some options: Personal Injury Protection (PIP) or Med-Pay from vehicle insurance; health insurance; Medicaid; Medicare; a personal injury claim against the at-fault person or company.

Your Own Utah Vehicle Accident Insurance

If you were injured in a Utah vehicle accident, hopefully the vehicle you were in had Personal Injury Protection (PIP) or med pay or both. When you are injured in a Utah vehicle accident you are considered an insured of the vehicle you were in. If you were injured in another person’s vehicle and you own your own vehicle you may be able to make a claim on your own vehicle’s insurance also.

Some states, such as Utah, have a no-fault insurance plan. No-fault is a type of vehicle insurance in which each person’s own insurance company pays for injury up to a certain limit regardless of whether its insured was at fault in the Utah vehicle accident.

Personal injury protection or PIP, is another word for no-fault. So if you live in a no-fault state such as Utah you likely have PIP which will pay your medical bills after a Utah vehicle accident. Report the crash to your agent who will open a claim so an adjuster can be assigned. From the adjuster you can get an “Application for Benefits” which you will use to start the process of claiming your PIP medical benefits.

Though not common in Utah, Med-Pay is another type of vehicle insurance coverage that will pay for medical bills after an accident. Some policies have both PIP and Med-Pay.

Your Own Health Insurance

Contrary to popular belief, your health insurance will pay your medical bills from a vehicle accident. You need to first use up your vehicle PIP or Med-Pay. Usually, your adjuster will send you a letter telling you when the coverage is used up. Forward that letter to your health insurance and you shouldn’t have any problem getting them to pay.

There are two advantages to using health insurance after a Utah vehicle accident.

One is discounts. Health insurance companies get discounts from hospitals and doctors. So the amount they pay is less than the full amount of the bill. This benefits you when it comes time to pay them back.

The other advantage is interest. No interest, that is. Medical bills accrue interest till paid. If you wait to pay your medical bills until your injury case settles you may be paying a lot of money in interest. And there is the possibility of a collections lawsuit if the bill does not get paid.

If your health insurance pays and you later get a settlement from your Utah vehicle accident you will need to pay back your health insurance. Often, if you contact them before you settle they will allow a reduction because you had to pay an attorney to help you get the money.

Medicaid and Your Utah Vehicle Accident

If you do not have private health insurance you may be able to get the State of Utah to pay your medical bills from your Utah vehicle accident. These programs have time limitations so file promptly. There may also be limitations on income or assets. You won’t know till you inquire.

Once again, you will need to pay back Medicaid out of your Utah vehicle accident settlement. But Medicaid gets big discounts so you will be paying back far less than the original bill.

Medicare and Your Utah Vehicle Accident

Just like Medicaid, Medicare will pay bills from a Utah vehicle accident but, again, they want to be paid back. And, like Medicaid, they get discounts from health care providers.

Personal Injury Claim after a Utah Vehicle Accident

If there was negligence or other legal basis for a claim, you may be able to recover your medical bills by hiring an attorney to pursue an injury claim from your Utah vehicle accident. Injury claims can take time, often several years or more, so, if possible, find a way to get your bills paid with one of the other methods. That avoids interest and possible collections lawsuits. Not to mention stress.