If you suffer injuries in a motor vehicle crash, you might wonder who pays the medical bills in a car accident in Minnesota. Your medical costs will probably be covered by some sort of insurance, but figuring out which policy pays can be a challenging process for injury victims going through this process for the first time. Additionally, whether you can seek financial awards beyond your medical costs will depend on the nature of the accident. If you have serous injuries that cause you to miss work or change the way you’re able to live your day-to-day life, you may want the help of our Minnesota car accident attorneys to navigate the process.
Learn more about how state laws affect who pays your medical bills after a Minnesota car accident with injuries.
How to Determine Which Insurance Company Will Cover Your Medical Bills
The circumstances of your accident will determine which type of insurance will potentially pay your medical bills. In some cases, more than one insurer may pay some of the costs. Here are the potential options for paying your car accident medical bills.
Auto Insurance Policy
According to the Minnesota Commerce Department, every driver in the state must carry no-fault insurance coverage. This type of coverage will pay some of your medical care costs, especially in an emergency situation. It’s called “no-fault” insurance because it doesn’t matter who caused the accident; this policy will cover some of the early medical costs you have.
Your own no-fault insurance (called personal injury protection insurance, or PIP) will pay for your medical bills up to the limit of the policy. The minimum amount of coverage required in Minnesota is $20,000 for medical expenses, but you can buy additional coverage if desired. The primary advantage of using the no-fault insurance for your medical costs is that you don’t have a deductible associated with it. Your PIP policy also pays your medical bills regardless of who was at fault for the accident.
Your no-fault insurance policy’s medical benefits will be the first type of insurance to pay your medical bills after an auto accident in Minnesota. As long as your medical costs are less than the maximum coverage amount for the policy, you won’t have to use any other insurance to pay for your medical bills.
If the cost of medical care exceeds the PIP policy’s cap, though, you have some other options for seeking payment.
A no-fault PIP policy also has a coverage amount to reimburse you for direct non-medical costs, such as for wages you miss earning at work while you recover from the accident. The minimum allowable coverage for this section of the policy is $20,000, but you can purchase more coverage if desired. Additionally, if you may be eligible to seek a financial award for pain and suffering because the other driver was at fault, your no-fault PIP policy would not cover this amount. You would have to file a lawsuit to seek a pain and suffering amount, most likely against the other driver’s policy.
Health Insurance Policy
It’s possible that your health insurance policy will pay some of your medical costs after the crash.
After you hit the limit on your no-fault PIP insurance, your medical bills may go to your health insurance policy. If this is the case, you would have to pay – out of your own pocket – any of the costs that the health insurance doesn’t cover as well as any deductible associated with your policy. If your injuries are severe, your health insurance policy may have a maximum payout cap that you could run into, although this would be rare.
If the accident was primarily your fault, your health insurance would be your only option to have your medical bills paid after the PIP policy hits its maximum amount. If the accident was primarily the other driver’s fault, there’s another avenue potentially available to you.
Other Driver’s Insurance Policy
When another driver caused the accident, that driver’s auto insurance policy might pay your medical bills. Even when the other driver is primarily at fault, your PIP policy would cover the first $20,000 of your medical bills (or more if you paid for additional coverage). The other driver’s insurance policy would begin covering your medical bills only after you hit the cap on your PIP coverage.
To receive this amount, though, you might have to hire Minnesota personal injury lawyers to file a lawsuit against the other driver. If you don’t actively sue to receive a payment from the other driver’s insurance, your health insurance may still cover your medical bills. If you’re eligible, it’s helpful to sue for payment, though, because you don’t have a deductible to pay when the other driver’s insurance is paying your medical bills.
The other driver’s insurer might fight your claim. That’s where your attorneys enter the picture, presenting facts that show why you deserve to have your large medical costs paid for by the at-fault driver’s insurance policy. You can seek a pain and suffering award from the other driver’s insurance policy, too.
Your Policy’s Uninsured or Underinsured Motorist Coverage
If the other driver doesn’t have auto insurance or leaves the scene of the accident and cannot be identified, the uninsured or underinsured motorist (UM/UIM) coverage in your own insurance policy potentially would cover your medical bills beyond what the PIP policy covers.
Even though this payment is coming from your own auto insurance policy, your insurer might not be willing to make these payments for your medical costs. Even though it sounds odd, you might have to file an injury lawsuit against your own insurance policy to try to receive this money and avoid having to use your own health insurance policy to pay your medical costs. Your car accident injury lawyers in Minnesota can help you file the lawsuit against your own policy. You can attempt to recover a pain and suffering financial award from UM/UIM coverage, too.
Don’t Assume That the Right Insurance Company Will Automatically Take Care of Your Medical Costs
After suffering injuries in a car accident, you hope that some insurance company will automatically handle your medical costs. However, this isn’t always the case. Should you be struggling to receive the payments you believe you deserve, the team at Tyroler Leonard Injury Law is ready to help. We’ll use our experience in dealing with cases similar to yours as St. Paul car accident lawyers to attempt to generate the results you want to see. If you have severe, life-altering injuries, you can trust us to seek the maximum payment for you.
To learn more about who pays the medical bills after a car accident in Minnesota and how we can serve you, call us today at (651) 259-1113. We offer a free consultation where we can advise you on the best path to take with your case.