How Do You Pay for Medical Care After a Mississippi Car Wreck?

No victim should lose sleep worrying about how they’ll pay their medical bills after a car accident. Your focus should be healing, especially when the accident wasn’t your fault. However, many people don’t realize the options they have after a car accident, or the steps they need to take to pay for their medical bills.

In this blog, the Andy Citrin Injury Attorneys team will outline options victims have for paying for medical care after a Mississippi car crash, and how an experienced injury attorney can help.

Struggling With Unpaid Medical Bills? Identify All of Your Options

After a car accident, you’ll need to file a claim with the at-fault driver’s insurance company and demand compensation. Under Mississippi law, every car owner must carry at least $25,000 per person and $50,000 per accident in liability coverage. The insurance company should pay your medical bills and other losses, up to the at-fault driver’s policy limits.

However, their coverage may not be enough. Suppose a drunk driver runs a stop sign and crashes into your pickup. You suffer a severe back injury that needs surgery, physical therapy, and pain management. Your medical bills are $150,000 – and that doesn’t even include your lost income, pain and suffering, and property damage. The drunk driver only carries Mississippi’s minimum liability coverage ($25,0000 per person), so you still have $125,000 in unpaid medical bills. Now what?

Thankfully, injured people in Mississippi may have other options for paying their medical bills after a crash. Your car accident attorney will start looking for other sources of insurance coverage, which may include the following.

Med Pay Coverage

If you purchased medical payments insurance as part of your auto policy, it should cover some or all of your medical bills. Because Med Pay is a form of “no-fault” insurance, it can help cover your co-pays, deductibles, and medical bills even if you contributed to the crash.

Uninsured/Underinsured Motorist Insurance (UM/UIM)

Unless you declined uninsured/underinsured motorist insurance in writing, your Mississippi auto insurance policy should contain at least modest UM/UIM coverage. This policy will step in and help pay your bills if the at-fault driver didn’t have enough insurance or was completely uninsured.

Should I Have My Health Insurance Pay My Crash-Related Medical Bills?

If you have health insurance through your employer, Medicaid, Medicare, the VA, or another source, the policy may cover some of your crash-related bills. However, your health insurance company may demand repayment if you settle your claim or win a jury award.

If you have health insurance, make sure you tell your car accident lawyer about these policies. They can make sure you follow state and federal laws about Medicaid and Medicare reimbursement and may be able to negotiate down any liens that the insurance companies assert.

Which Medical Bills Will the Insurance Company Pay?

Once you’ve identified all of the relevant insurance policies, you’ll need to file claims with each of them. These personal injury claims can help you cover the costs of your medical treatment, including:

• Emergency medical services and ambulance rides
• Hospital and ER bills
• Surgeries
• MRIs, x-rays, and other diagnostic tests
• Follow-up doctor visits with specialists
• Physical therapy and occupational therapy
• Therapy or counseling for emotional injuries
• Chronic pain management and medications
• Crutches, casts, walkers, and slings

After a car crash, your medical bills can add up quickly. It can be hard to know your injuries’ actual cost, especially if you have long-term needs, like physical therapy. An experienced car crash lawyer can help you understand your injuries’ real value by calculating your expenses from the time of the crash into the future.

Understanding what you’ll need in the future is an essential part of the process of getting justice. All too often, victims accept the insurance company’s first offer because the amount seems like a lot. In truth, it’s barely enough to cover their medical costs, and nowhere near the maximum amount covered under the insurance policy.

Need to Pay Your Medical Bills After an Auto Accident? Call a Lawyer for Help

Recovering from an injury takes a tremendous amount of time and energy, especially when you need intensive therapy and medical care. For many people, the process of filing claims or lawsuits can feel overwhelming, if not impossible. Sometimes, they accept too-low offers just to get the process over with because they no longer have the stamina to fight back.

If this sounds like your situation, it’s time to consider speaking with an experienced Mississippi personal injury attorney. When you work with an Andy Citrin Injury Attorneys lawyer, we handle the paperwork for you and help you understand your case’s true value. Then, we take our years of experience and fight for you, demanding fair compensation for your injuries.

RELATED: 3 Things You Need to Know About Mississippi Motorcycle Crashes

Get Help Paying Your Medical Bills After a Mississippi Car Accident. Contact Andy Citrin Injury Attorneys Today

At Andy Citrin Injury Attorneys, we believe that people shouldn’t have to pay for their medical bills when their injuries were caused by someone else’s negligence and poor choices. In Mississippi, the insurance companies know our law firm’s name. When you trust us to fight on your behalf, we tirelessly fight to get you the compensation you deserve. In fact, we’ve won over $500 million for our clients.

If you’re struggling to pay your bills after a crash, don’t wait to give our law firm a call. We can meet with you privately to discuss your case and what to do next. To schedule your free consultation with an experienced member of our team, call our office at 228-888-8888 or fill out this simple online contact form.

The content provided here is for informational purposes only and should not be construed as legal advice on any subject.