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Insurance
There are a number of different types of insurance that may provide help to you if you are in a car accident.
Your own insurance policy may provide limited help for paying medical bills for you or anyone in your car, regardless of who was at fault in causing the accident. Also, even if the owner of the car did not have medical payments insurance, you may have medical payments insurance on your car that will help you with your medical bills, even if you were not in your car at the time you were injured.
Your health and accident insurance through your work may pay your medical bills. Under some circumstances, you may have an obligation to repay the insurance company if you are paid by the negligent third party.
If you were injured by another driver who was careless, the insurance company of the careless driver has an obligation to pay for your medical bills.
If the negligent driver who injured you did not have insurance or did not have enough insurance, your own insurance company may be responsible for paying your medical bills under your uninsured motorist coverage or underinsured motorist coverage.
If you are eligible for Medicare benefits, Medicare is responsible for paying your medical bills. If Medicare believes that another party is at fault, Medicare may delay paying your medical bills to see whether the insurance company of the careless driver will pay your bills. If Medicare does pay your bills, Medicare may require you to sign an agreement that you will reimburse Medicare if you are paid anything by the negligent driver.
If you are eligible for Medicaid benefits, Medicaid should pay your medical bills. However, as with Medicare, Medicaid may delay paying your bills to see whether the insurance company of the careless driver will pay your bills, or they may pay your bills but require you to sign an agreement that you will reimburse Medicaid if you recover from the negligent driver.
The links below provide additional information about insurance coverage.
Insurance of the other driver
If the driver of the other vehicle was at fault or partially at fault in causing your injury you may be able to recover damages from the insurance company of the other driver. In Missouri every owner of an automobile is required to have at least $25,000.00 of insurance to cover each person injured in a wreck or a total of $50,000.00 to cover all people injured in the wreck. Each owner is also required to have at least $10,000.00 of insurance to cover the damage to your car.
Some times the insurance company of the other driver will voluntarily pay your medical bills and your lost wages in installments and delay the final settlement until the amount of your total damage is known. However, most insurance companies will delay making any payment until the final settlement at which time they will require that you release them and the other driver from any further liability. If the insurance company delays any payment until the final settlement this can cause a great hardship. It may even interfere with your medical care if you do not have other insurance to pay your medical bills.
The insurance carrier of the other driver may also owe you for the damage to your car. The insurance company will settle the claim for damage to your car and leave the claim for personal injury open. When you settle the claim for damage to your car, the insurance company may ask you to sign a receipt. Make sure that the papers you sign do not release your personal injury claim and you may want to consult an attorney before signing any papers.
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Medical payments coverage under your car insurance policy
If the car you are in has insurance and if that policy has medical payments coverage, then the insurance company insuring the car that you are in may have to pay your medical bills. You have to pay an extra premium for medical payments coverage, and not every policy includes this benefit. Also, the amount of medical bills that must be paid is limited. Look at the policy to see whether medical payments coverage is included and the limit on payment of medical bills.
Also, you may have medical payments coverage under your own insurance policy. You are entitled to recover medical payments coverage under your own policy even if you are not in your car at the time you are injured.
For example, if the car in which you were injured has medical payments coverage and you also have medical payments coverage on your own vehicle, you may be able to recover under both policies if your medical bills are more than the limit of one of the policies.
Also, if you are a pedestrian, you may be able to recover your medical bills under your car's medical payments coverage.
Generally, if you are a member of a family that has insurance that contains medical payments coverage, you are also covered, even if you are not named as an insured in the policy.
If you have any questions about whether an insurance policy will cover your loss, you should contact a personal injury attorney.
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Uninsured motorist coverage
In Missouri every owner of a vehicle must carry some insurance on his car, including uninsured motorist coverage. In uninsured motorist coverage, your insurance agrees to pay you certain benefits if you are injured because of carelessness of another driver who does not have insurance. In Missouri a driver who leaves a scene of an accident, and cannot be identified, is considered to be an uninsured motorist. This includes a driver who hits you at the scene, such as a hit and run motorist, and a driver who causes you to have a accident, without contact. The uninsured motorist coverage must pay your medical bills and lost wages. In addition, it may be responsible for pain and suffering and other intangible human damages.
Uninsured motorist coverage will not pay for the damage to your car, but you may have collision coverage which will pay for the damage to your car.
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Underinsured motorist coverage
Your own insurance policy may provide underinsured motorist coverage. You must pay an additional premium to purchase this coverage and you can tell whether you have this coverage by looking at your policy or calling your insurance agent. Underinsured motorist coverage furnishes you protection if you are injured by a careless driver but the careless driver does not have enough insurance to pay your entire claim. If the limit of your underinsured motorist coverage is greater than the policy limit of the driver that injured you, then you may be able to recover additional benefits from your own insurance company under your underinsured motorist coverage.
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Regular medical insurance coverage
Generally your health and accident insurance may have an obligation to pay your medical bills. There is, of course, often a deductible before the bills will be paid. Also, some insurance policies provide that you must reimburse the insurance company if your medical bills are paid later by the insurance company of the negligent driver that hit you. Sometimes the requirement for reimbursement is unenforceable, and you should contact a personal injury attorney if you have questions about this.
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Medicare coverage
Medicare will pay your medical expenses in a car accident, under most circumstances. However, there are a number of complications. If your injuries were caused by the negligence of another driver who has insurance, Medicare may refuse to pay your medical bills until you have tried to collect the medical bills from the negligent driver or his or her insurance company. Sometimes, this results in a long delay where the medical bills are not paid. If Medicare does pay the medical bills, it usually requires you to sign an agreement that you will reimburse Medicare if your medical bills are later paid by the negligent driver or his or her insurance company.
Under some circumstances, it is possible to pay Medicare less than the full amount.
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Medicaid Coverage
If you are eligible for Medicaid benefits, then Medicaid may have an obligation to pay your medical bills if you are injured in an accident. However, there are some complications. If Medicaid believes that your injury was caused by the negligence of another driver, they may delay paying medical bills until you have attempted to collect the medical bills from the careless driver. If Medicaid does pay your medical bills, they may make ask you to sign an agreement to reimburse Medicaid if you are successful in recovering your medical bills from the careless driver that injured you.
If you recover payment from the negligent party that injured you, there is a procedure to reduce the amount of the payback to Medicaid if full repayment to Medicaid would cause a financial hardship to you.
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No insurance on the other driver
In Missouri every owner of an automobile is required to have at least $25,000.00 of insurance to cover each person injured in the accident or a total of $50,000.00 to cover all people injured in the accident. If the owner of the vehicle does not have the insurance required by Missouri law, then you may be able to recover benefits from your own automobile insurance policy under your uninsured motorist coverage. Every Missouri insurance policy should include uninsured motorist coverage.
Also, you can purchase additional insurance coverage at an addition premium, called underinsured motorist coverage. If the other driver has insurance but it is not enough to cover your damages, then you may be able to recover additional damages from your own insurance company under the underinsured motorist coverage. There are a number of legal issues involved, and you should contact an attorney for further advice.
If the party that injured you does not have enough insurance to cover the damage caused by his or her negligence, you have a right to recover your damages directly from the person that injured you. There are a number of legal issues to be considered in deciding whether it is practical to collect the uninsured damages from the negligent driver, and you should seek legal advice on this matter.
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No fault insurance
Some states allow you to recover some of your damages from your own insurance company regardless of who is at fault. Missouri does not have a no-fault insurance law, but if you are injured in another state, you may be entitled to recover benefits under the no-fault insurance laws of that state.
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IMPORTANT - This is not a substitute for legal advice. Please see Disclaimer.
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