Personal Injury Lawyer
Your life can be turned upside down when you get in an accident. Suddenly there are bills to pay that you hadn’t ever anticipated, and you may not have the savings to support so many unexpected expenses. If the accident caused an injury, those costs can skyrocket. As you wait around for the insurance company to pay your claim compensation, those bills may come due. How do they get paid in the meantime? Once your claim is processed, how do the payouts work? Here are ways to pay your bills before the settlement is reached and how to pay them after you’ve received compensation.
Health Insurance
Immediately following an accident, you may face complications with an injury that require multiple visits to the doctor or more intensive treatment. If you’ve filed a claim, you won’t be able to wait for the settlement to pay those bills. Settlements can sometimes take months or years to be reached, especially if there is a lot of money involved or if there are disputes over who was at fault for the accident. Your health insurance can cover those initial costs so they don’t come out of your pocket.
Personal Injury Protection Coverage
Some policies have an option of adding personal injury protection (PIP) coverage. If you have this, you can claim your injury costs even if you were at fault for the accident. This gets filed with your own insurance and avoids the hassle of dealing with another person’s insurance company.
Medicare and Medicaid
These work similarly to other health insurance where your medical expenses can be covered under their coverage. This relieves the burden of paying everything up front. Oftentimes, you’ll be expected to refund the insurance once you’ve received your settlement.
Settlements
If your claim is successful, you’ll receive payment covering your expenses. If you used health insurance beforehand, they may see to it that they are paid back first, and then you’ll obtain the rest of the money. You should get your money in the form of a check written by the insurance company usually within a week of settling.
Lawyer Expenses
If you used a lawyer to help negotiate your settlement claim, they will also take their percentage from your total settlement payment. You’ll agree upon this percentage in advance. The amount of your settlement will be negotiated with that amount in mind so that you still have money left over to cover your own expenses after everyone else is paid.
Contact a lawyer, like a personal injury lawyer from Needle & Ellenberg, P.A., to discuss your options. You may not know some are applicable to your situation until you ask.