Managing Medical Expenses and Bills from a Georgia Car Accident While Waiting For a Settlement

Have you been injured and do not know how your medical bills will be paid? Don’t panic. This article written by our Georgia accident and injury lawyers will explore your options to receive and pay for medical care.

Key Points:

• Wondering, “how do I pay for medical care” while I wait for my accident case to settle? You have several options: medical insurance, medical payments coverage, deferred payment plans, medical funding, or medical lien care.
• If you have both medical health and automobile medical payments coverage, both policies may pay for some or all of your medical care.
• If you do not have health insurance, other options exist, such as treatment on a medical or attorney’s liens or personal injury medical funding.

After any Georgia car accident or other injury, you are responsible to pay for your own medical expenses until your case settles or pays you money.

But if this seems very unfair, you are not alone. You have options to get your bills paid after a car accident, even if you do not have medical insurance. Some of the ways you have to get your medical treatment on track and paid for include private medical insurance, government assistance, medical payments coverage, medical liens, attorneys liens or or private medical-legal funding, in Georgia.

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When to Expect Medical Bills After a Car Accident

After you have been involved in a car accident you may start to receive medical bills within days or weeks after you begin medical treatment. Many ambulance serives or hospital emergency rooms may send send a bill immediately, at the start of their next billing cycle. This can mean that you may start to receive bills within weeks to a month. If you have health insurance and were able to provide that information, medical clinics and doctors offices or EMS providers are supposed to bill your insurance first, however, some medical providers fail to do so, and send the bill directly to you. different times.

Whether you start to receive medical bills within 30 days of your first medical treatment, or up to several months later, it is important that you retain all medical billing and documentation. You will need your medical bills and records in order to receive a full and fair settlement of your injury case.

Medical Bills Will Usually Arrive Before Car Accident Compensation

With medical bills typically arriving in your mailbox 3 to 6 weeks after a car accident, its common for these bills to appear before any settlement offer is made by the insurance company. This can understandably cause stress and confustion for accident victims. Some auto insurance companies might soon thereafter offer a low-ball settlement check in hopes that you’ll accept it. Unless you were very minimally injured, such initial offers are rarely sufficient to cover all medical expenses.

To secure an amount that adequately addresses your medical bills, it’s often necessary to file a legal claim with the help of a car accident lawyer. The entire legal claim and settlement process can span anywhere from 3 to 24 months. On average, a car accident case settles between 6 and 9 months from the date of the accident. This timeline can raise concerns: How should you manage medical debt while awaiting your settlement to avoid penalties?

What Happens If I Don’t Pay My Medical Bills Following a Car Accident?

Your car or truck accident was not your fault. No doubt, you may be thinking about how unfair it is that you are receiving medical bills and wondering if you must pay them, or why the at-fault driver’s insurance company is not paying your bills.

Unfortunately, in the State of Georgia, medical bills you recieve after an accident or injury that was not your fault are your responsibility. This means that unpaid medical bills can affect your credit or even result in collection actions against you.

There is some good news, however. A negligent person or company is also responsible for reimbursing you for medical bills you paid or owe. In many cases you will receive reimbursement for those medical bills at the time your case settles. In the meantime, if you have medical insurance your health insurance company will have paid the bills up-front. Additionally, some medical clinics will agree to be paid when your case settles, this is known as a medical lien.

Experienced personal injury attorneys and their law offices can advise how to minimize the financial strain caused by expensive, but necessary, medical care. In most cases, even if you do not have medical insurance or deep pockets, medical care can be arranged for you.

Strategies We Recommend to Manage Medical Bills While Waiting For a Settlement

Utilize MedPay Coverage in Your Auto Insurance Policy

If you have MedPay, you can connect with your auto insurance provider and request for them to cover the medical bills once you receive them. MedPay, also known as “Medical Payments Coverage” or MPC, is an optional coverage offered by many automobile insurance companies in their insurance policies. MedPay is intended to pay for medical expenses related to a car accident, regardless of fault, up to a certain dollar amount.

In Georgia, MPC provides coverage for certain medical expenses and costs, such as hospital or urgent care visits, primary medical care, surgeries, and even ambulance bills. MedPay is a type of a “no-fault” coverage, allowing you to pay for medical care without waiting for a settlement offer from an insurance carrier.

Negotiating a Payment Plan with Your Hospital or Specialist

If you do not have medical or health insurance and also do not have MedPay coverage, or your MPC has been exhausted, some hospitals and specialists may offer payment plans. You may also be able to request that the clinic puts their billing on-hold until your case settles. This may sometimes be done through a letter of protection sent by a personal injury attorney on your behalf.

Use your Health Insurance – You Have Insurance For a Reason

Some people are worried about or feel it is unfair for their personal health insurance to pay for medical care after a personal injury caused by someone else, like a car or truck accident or other incident. However, this is exactly why you have health insurance. Health insurance companies will cover the medical bills initially, regardless of who is at fault for the car accident. Later on, the insurance company may recover its costs from the at-fault person or business.

For these reasons, we feel it is usually in your best interest to let your health insurance pay these bills, as the carrier will later seek reimbursement through subrogation.

Medical Liens

In some cases, medical providers might agree to treat you in exchange for a lien against your future settlement. This means they will wait for payment until your settlement is finalized.

Loans or Credit Cards (Last Resort)

We advise clients to consider loans or credit card usage as a last resort. While these are available options, there are often more favorable alternatives to explore first.