One of the first things that people worry about after they have been injured is \u201cwho will pay my medical bills?\u201d\u00a0 The answer might surprise you.<\/p>\n
According to Washington law, the insurance company that insures the person who injured you does NOT have to pay for your medical treatment until you are ready to settle your case.<\/strong>\u00a0 Since you should not settle your case until you have recovered from your injuries and know whether you will need future medical treatment, this leaves most people in a bind.\u00a0 What do they do between the time they are injured and the time they are ready to settle their case \u2013 especially since this gap may be months or even years?<\/p>\n If you were injured as a result of an automobile collision (regardless of who was driving or was at fault) or a car hit you while you were a pedestrian or riding your bicycle, your Personal Injury Protection (\u201cPIP\u201d) insurance should pay your bills.\u00a0 Everyone who has a car should have Personal Injury Protection (\u201cPIP\u201d) insurance.<\/strong>\u00a0 <\/b>\u00a0If you do not have PIP insurance (or if you aren\u2019t sure whether you have it), RUN, don\u2019t walk, to the phone and call your insurance agent!!\u00a0 PIP insurance is one of the best types of insurance you can purchase. \u00a0There are different levels of insurance you can purchase.\u00a0 We strongly recommend that you purchase at least $35,000 worth of PIP insurance.<\/strong><\/p>\n PIP is extremely inexpensive and will pay for your medical treatment if you are injured as the result of an automobile collision, regardless of who was driving and regardless of who was at fault.\u00a0 Unlike health insurance, there is no deductible, no co-pay, no-preauthorization requirement, and you can choose your own healthcare providers.\u00a0 The only requirements are that (1) the treatment is received within three years from the date of the collision; (2) the treatment is provided by a licensed healthcare provider; (3) the cost of the treatment is reasonable; and (4) the treatment is necessary to treat injuries you suffered as a result of the collision.\u00a0 In addition, it provides a small reimbursement for funeral expenses, lost wages, and loss of services (childcare, lawn care, household care, etc.).<\/p>\n If you do not have PIP insurance or were injured as a result of something other than an automobile incident, your health insurance should pay your medical bills.\u00a0 However, you will have to pay your deductible and co-pays when you receive your medical treatment.\u00a0 In addition, your health insurer will still require that you reimburse it, but those laws may be much less favorable to you that PIP reimbursements, depending on your insurance plan.\u00a0 In some cases, your health insurer is entitled to demand that you pay for 100% of the benefits it paid, regardless of whether you are fully compensated for your injuries.\u00a0 For this reason alone, it is important that you purchase PIP insurance so that you can use that if you are injured as the result of an automobile collision.<\/p>\n If you are injured at someone\u2019s home or on someone else\u2019s property, you may be eligible for limited payment of medical bills under the property owner\u2019s liability insurance, even before your case is settled.\u00a0 Most property owners automatically carry something known as \u201cMed Pay.\u201d\u00a0 This insurance will usually pay for a relatively small amount (often $5,000) of medical treatment if you are injured on someone else\u2019s property.\u00a0 However, receiving these benefits is not an admission of fault by the property owner.<\/p>\n We hope this article has answered your questions about how you will afford medical treatment.\u00a0 At Nelson Boyd, we have years of experience in dealing with all types of insurers and injuries.\u00a0 We know how to maximize our clients\u2019 recovery while helping them get the medical treatment they need.\u00a0 If you have been injured, give Nelson Boyd a call at (206) 971-7601. Contact us today!<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":1321,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[2],"tags":[139,26,174,38,46,118,141,140,75,98,122,11],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nelsonboydlaw.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/628"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nelsonboydlaw.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nelsonboydlaw.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nelsonboydlaw.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nelsonboydlaw.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=628"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.nelsonboydlaw.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/628\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3274,"href":"https:\/\/www.nelsonboydlaw.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/628\/revisions\/3274"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nelsonboydlaw.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1321"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nelsonboydlaw.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=628"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nelsonboydlaw.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=628"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nelsonboydlaw.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=628"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}