Medical payments coverage is insurance you can add to your policy that will pay for medical bills if you are in a collision. Many times it covers you even if you aren’t in your car. I can not tell you how often I wish clients had medpay on their policy. When you are in a car accident and it is not your fault it can be really frustrating when medical bills come due and you can not pay. The person at fault should pay your bills, but insurance doesn’t work like that. They want to give you one lump sum which includes everything like pain and suffering as well. So if you aren’t done treating, you’re not getting any money.

We see this problem all the time with ambulance companies. Usually, we can call up a doctors office and say “This was an accident, it was not our client’s fault, can you please defer payment”, and they will either have us sign a lien or just put the account on hold. This way the client can treat and get the medical help they need without paying out of pocket. Unfortunately, ambulance companies hardly ever agree to not collect payment right away. And if you don’t pay, the bill will go to collections. Once it’s in collections we can usually keep it off your credit report and collection agencies often agree to liens because it’s a promise of payment. But some don’t and when an ambulance company gives the bill to one of those, things get even worse.

Medical payments would pay that ambulance bill up front and wait for your case to settle before being paid back. That is the biggest benefit they provide. The policy will also reimburse the insured for out-of-pocket expenses like co-pays and prescriptions if you submit the bills and medical records to back them up.

Medpay coverage is usually pretty cheap as well. And it protects you and everyone else. Bodily injury limits protect other people. Underinsured motorist limits protect you. Medpay protects BOTH! You might pay more for coverage that doesn’t need to be paid back, but that is an added benefit, most medpay coverages have a reimbursement clause. When you win the case against the person at fault, you pay back the money that your insurance paid out under the medpay policy.

That is why they are inexpensive, the insurance company expects to be paid back what they pay out if you are not at fault. It is a wash for them, but it gets your bills paid and out of collections. Having the right insurance for you and your situation is sometimes hard to gauge, but I definitely recommend this coverage if it is an option.

If you hire an attorney, many times we can get the reimbursement reduced or even sometimes waived. In fact denial of medical payments without a valid reason can lead to an insurance bad faith claim. Laskin Balma Attorneys at Law work hard to prevent damage to our client’s credit, but every little bit helps. Medpay is a good investment, contact your insurance agent today and add it on to your auto policy.

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