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Paying for Medical Treatment and Care

Paying for Medical Treatment & Care in Durham

Compassionate Personal Injury Attorneys

While being injured through no fault of your own is both physically painful and utterly distressing, the financial and economic burden of being unable to work as a result is often one of the worst aspects of any car accident. If you have been injured in a car accident, there are numerous issues that you will encounter on a daily, weekly, and monthly basis. One of the most common questions accident victims have is whether to use their health insurance to pay for their medical treatment, as opposed to attempting to bill the medical treatment to the responsible third party.

The answer to this question is rather complicated; however, as a rule, it is recommended that you use your health insurance to pay for your accident-related medical treatment. The simple rationale is that your physical and mental health are significantly more important than waiting weeks or months to locate a physician that may be willing to bill a third party or accept a medical lien.

Call Wallace Pierce Law today at (919) 887-7892, or contact us online to speak with our Durham attorneys after your accident. We can help you recover using our legal experience.

Should I Use My Health Insurance to Pay for My Medical Treatment?

It is important to remember that claims for compensation for bodily injury are typically negotiated for and paid in lump sum. Therefore, the most effective bodily injury claim strategies involve the presentation of bodily injury claims after the injured party has finished their medical treatment or reached their Maximum Medical Improvement (MMI). Knowing exactly how you have been injured, what your injuries are, and whether your injuries are permanent or temporary is essential to the presentation of a successful bodily injury claim.

It’s common for an insurance company to accept liability or responsibility for a bodily injury claim and acknowledge to the victim or the insured that they will cover the medical expenses and pay “X” number of dollars in pain and suffering. This tactic used by the insurance companies is exceedingly clever and exceptionally unfair, as the adjuster will not always end up approving every treatment in the end. Typically, the injured person will seek medical care believing that the insurance company will pay for the treatment at the end of the case, only to discover that the insurance adjuster disputes the treatment received as being too expensive, improper, or unnecessary, or even cite that the treatment is not American Medical Association (AMA) approved. Assuming that any insurance company or insurance adjuster has your best interest at heart can be a costly mistake.

Using your own health insurance to pay for medical treatment is typically the best and safest option for you and your case.

What If I Can’t Afford Medical Treatment?

Despite the many changes that the Affordable Care Act has brought to our state, many people still cannot afford health insurance. If you have been injured in an accident and do not have health insurance or have a health insurance plan with an extremely high deductible, such as a healthcare savings account, medical treatment may be cost-prohibitive to you. Regardless, if you have been injured in an accident, you will need medical treatment to recover from your injuries. It is well known that insurance companies do not pay for injuries that are not appropriately documented in medical records by a qualified medical provider.

As you know, seeking medical care for your accident-related injuries requires appropriate documentation. It is common for claimants to argue that appropriate medical care was too expensive and therefore unattainable given their limited financial means.

This logic may make sense at some level, but in the minds of the insurance companies and the courts, if a person is truly injured and in pain, they will seek appropriate medical care regardless of the expense and their financial situation. While this may be completely one-sided and unfair, insurance companies and the public have been known to utilize this type of lop-sided logic.

Without the assistance of health insurance, seeking treatment for your accident-related injuries may appear to be too costly for you and your family. However, appropriate medical treatment may be available in many cases for individuals who cannot afford to pay out-of-pocket for their medical care through something called medical or physician liens.

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Our top priority is to devise customized legal strategies that are tailored to the unique legal needs of our clients, no matter how simple or complicated their situations, might be.

  • $1,900,000 Wrongful Death

    The at-fault driver failed to reduce speed and collided with our client's vehicle. Our client passed away shortly after the collision.

  • $900,000 Wrongful Death

    Our client was thrown from his motorcycle and was pronounced deceased on the scene.

  • $122,000 Car Accident

    Vehicle made a left-hand turn, failing to yield the right of way.

  • $104,000 Serious Injuries

    Client was a passenger in a vehicle that was driving through an intersection when another vehicle ran a stop sign and t-boned the vehicle our client was in.

  • $104,000 Severe Injury

    We were able to not only receive policy limits for our client but were able to negotiate her medical bills and liens to ensure that she was able to keep a good portion of the settlement.

  • $102,000 Serious Injuries

    Elderly client was a passenger in a vehicle that was t-boned in an intersection where a driver failed to yield the right of way.