After any accident, especially a car accident, you could be left with expensive medical bills. If you weren’t the one who caused the accident, you shouldn’t have to be responsible for those bills – so how do you get compensation for your medical bills?
Generally, insurance is the first place to turn for compensation for medical damages. Your health insurance can pay for some expenses, but filing a claim with an insurance company might result in a settlement offer from the at-fault party to reimburse you for those payments. However, you should always have a lawyer review this claim. Ultimately, you may get your medical bills paid through a lawsuit.
For a free review of your accident case, call our South Carolina car accident lawyers of Burriss Ridgeway Injury Lawyers now at (803) 451-4000.
Who Should Pay for Medical Bills After a Car Accident?
After a car crash, you may be able to file an insurance claim against the other driver, and you shouldn’t have to pay for medical bills yourself. The process essentially looks like this: you file a claim with the at-fault party’s insurance, you submit proof of your damages, and their policy covers your expenses.
You shouldn’t have to pay any of your medical bills after a collision due to another driver’s negligence, or any other expenses related to a car accident. The negligent driver and their insurer are liable and should cover current and future medical expenses, lost wages, property damage, and pain and suffering.
When Does My Insurance Help Pay for Medical Bills After a Car Accident?
When you are hurt in an accident, it should not fall to you to pay out of pocket or through your own health insurance without compensation. However, if the other party is uninsured and can’t contribute to your medical damages, or you need immediate treatment, your insurance may cover some.
Your Health Insurance
At the time of the accident, you might have no choice but to present your health insurance card and get the care billed to your insurance in order to get treatment. This often leaves victims with substantial out-of-pocket costs, including deductibles and minimum out-of-pocket amounts. Still, it will typically result in lower bills than if you got healthcare as a “self-pay” patient.
If you’ve already used your health insurance and paid for co-pays, our South Carolina personal injury lawyers can seek compensation for your medical bills. From here, we will gather all insurance statements and hospital bills to use as evidence of your damages when we file an auto insurance claim or a lawsuit.
MedPay
Some drivers might have “MedPay” insurance or other coverage that pays them benefits after an accident. South Carolina isn’t a no-fault state, but these first-party benefits are similar to those used in a no-fault state, where each driver has insurance to cover their own injuries.
When you plan to use first-party benefits to cover your medical expenses, you might have to take more steps to choose the right doctor and work with your insurance company from the beginning, so you should consider working with an attorney right away.
Who Pays for Medical Bills After a Hit and Run Car Accident?
Your own health insurance or MedPay may be insufficient to cover all medical damages and other expenses after a hit and run collision in South Carolina. The negligent driver is still liable for your damages, and our attorneys may locate them after the accident.
To make the negligent driver and their insurance pay your medical bills after a hit and run, we must identify them. We may identify the driver who fled the scene by reviewing security camera footage, interviewing eyewitnesses, analyzing photos, and reading the police report.
Once we find the at-fault driver, we can check their insurance coverage. If they fled because they were uninsured, you may still seek compensation against them directly in a lawsuit.
How Does Billing for Medical Bills After an Accident Work?
If you haven’t gotten treatment yet, you might be able to work with a doctor who will accept payment directly from the insurance company, allowing you to get all the treatments you need without worrying about billing.
However, you should work with a South Carolina personal injury lawyer before taking any such steps. These doctors might be persuaded to reduce the care you receive to save the insurance company money. Instead, your attorney might recommend seeking treatment from a doctor you trust, then having the insurance company reimburse the bills.
At the end of the day, your Columbia car accident lawyers can negotiate with the car insurance companies to get your medical bills compensated.
How to Get Medical Bills Paid in a Car Accident Lawsuit
If you are injured in an accident, you could be entitled to file a lawsuit to cover your damages. This includes coverage for your medical bills, which can be claimed in any injury case. To get medical bills paid, you will need evidence that the defendant was indeed at fault for your accident, and you will need proof of the damages you faced.
Prove Negligence
To prove fault, you typically need to show the following four elements:
- The defendant owed you a legal duty
- The defendant breached that duty
- The breach of duty caused your accident and injuries
- The accident resulted in damages
What you need to prove, specifically, varies from case to case. For example, most car accidents involve proof that the defendant violated some traffic rule and caused your accident because of it. Common traffic violations that cause accidents include speeding, drunk driving, distracted driving, aggressive driving, and drowsy driving, among others.
Prove Damages
To prove your damages, you will need proof that the accident caused injuries, proof of what those injuries are, and proof of how much they cost.
Getting medical attention right away after an accident helps prove that the injuries appeared on the same day as the accident and helps pin down the specifics of what injuries you faced. Your testimony and other evidence will also help prove that these injuries were from the accident. From there, your Sumter personal injury lawyer can prove the cost of your injuries through medical bills, financial statements, and other records.
What if You Can’t Afford Medical Bills After a Car Accident?
If you can’t afford medical bills after a car accident, you should learn about your compensation options and take the best route to recovery, which is typically filing a lawsuit against the negligent driver.
Even if you can afford medical bills, you shouldn’t cover them yourself if someone else was negligent and injured you. The at-fault driver should be held responsible, provided you can file a lawsuit within three years.
Medical bills and other damages get more overwhelming as time passes, so don’t let them grow too high before beginning your car accident compensation claim in South Carolina, as your case might take months or longer to resolve.
FAQs About Getting Medical Bills Paid After a Car Accident
How Long Do You Have to Seek Payment for Medical Bills After a Car Accident?
The personal injury statute of limitations in South Carolina is three years, so that is how long you have to seek payment and file a lawsuit.
Does South Carolina Limit Payment for Medical Bills After Car Accidents?
South Carolina does not limit economic damages in car accident compensation claims, so you may recover all medical damages with sufficient proof that you incurred them.
Can a Settlement Pay All Medical Bills from a Car Crash?
A settlement can pay all medical bills from a car crash, but don’t expect a settlement to be fair before carefully reviewing it and its terms. Getting a good enough settlement is possible, but it may take some more time.
Do You Need an Attorney to Recover Medical Bills from an Accident?
Without an attorney’s help, you risk miscalculating your medical damages and making incorrect requests for relief or accepting a poor settlement offer.
Who Pays Future Medical Bills After a Car Accident?
The at-fault driver is also liable for your future medical bills after a car accident. To prove future medical damages, our lawyers may have medical experts and your treating physicians testify.
What if You Don’t Know Who Should Pay Your Medical Bills After an Accident?
If you don’t know who should pay your medical bills because you don’t know who is at fault, our attorneys can investigate your case and determine liability. This is common after hit and runs and multi-vehicle collisions in South Carolina.
How Long Does it Take to Get Medical Bills Paid After an Accident?
How long it takes for your medical bills to get paid depends on how straightforward your case is, the opposing side’s desire to keep the matter out of court, and how quickly you need compensation.
Call Our South Carolina Injury Attorneys Today
If you were hurt in an accident and need help getting medical bills paid, call Burriss Ridgeway Injury Lawyers today at (803) 451-4000 for a free case review from our South Carolina car accident lawyers.
