When you get hurt, you need medical care immediately. It may be some of the most expensive medical care you ever receive, and you may have no way of paying these bills until you win a personal injury case for your accident. This is where a letter of protection comes into play.
A letter of protection is a signed agreement with your doctor that you will pay them for their services after you win your injury case. Doctors and hospitals often understand the situation you are in and may be willing to accept a letter of protection. The alternative is that your medical bills could go to collections in the meantime – something injury victims always want to prevent.
For help with your injury case and getting your medical payments taken care of through an injury lawsuit, call the South Carolina personal injury attorneys at Burriss Ridgeway Injury Lawyers at (803) 451-4000.
How Are Medical Costs Billed in an Injury Case?
If you get hurt, you go to the hospital for care. But then what happens? You may have extensive medical bills that you cannot afford right now – and that you will not be able to afford until you win your case. So how are they paid?
Delays
Sometimes hospitals and doctors will send you the bill, and you will simply sit and wait until your case is resolved. With some insurance claims and injury cases where a quick settlement is likely, you may be able to just wait to pay and still get things covered on time before any late fees or collections take place.
If the delay is long enough, however, late fees, interest, and collections efforts can crop up. These can increase the cost and even hurt your credit score, so we want to avoid that.
Paying with Your Insurance
Sometimes you can cover the bills in the meantime with your health insurance. However, health insurance often refuses to pay for injuries caused in an accident.
Instead, they will want to see the responsible parties use their insurance to pay for your injuries – whether that be your employer paying through Workers’ Compensation, a driver paying through car insurance, or another party using liability insurance. Even if your insurance does cover the costs, they may want them paid back later.
All of this doesn’t stop you from having to cover deductibles, copays, and other out-of-pocket expenses in the meantime, which still means unpaid bills.
Letters of Protection
This is where letters of protection come into play. Instead of paying your bills now with money you don’t have or accepting the late fees and potential collections efforts, you can make a deal with your care providers that you will pay them from the winnings in your injury lawsuit.
This signed agreement basically puts all of that on paper and gives the doctor/hospital something they can use to enforce that agreement and get themselves paid later.
Is it Good to Use Letters of Protection in an Injury Case?
There are some upsides and downsides of letters of protection:
Pros
If you cannot afford to pay for your medical care now and get reimbursed later, you may have no other choice except to face late fees and collections. A letter of protection might be your only way to stop that.
The agreement can put in writing exactly what care will be covered this way.
Cons
Having a letter of protection means that your doctors get something if you win your case. This could be used to challenge their credibility and objectivity if they have a stake in the case.
If you end up winning less than you expected to, the full amount still gets paid under the letter of protection. That leaves you a smaller piece of the total damages left to you.
How is a Letter of Protection Created and Executed?
The process is not particularly complicated, but you should have your personal injury attorneys draw up the documents and advise you every step of the way.
Making Agreements with Care Providers
First, our lawyers can reach out to your doctors and negotiate to write a letter of protection. Hospitals, especially large hospitals, deal with this issue all the time and may even have forms or applications for this process.
Signing Agreement
The actual work on your party is pretty simple: our lawyers can arrange the paperwork to set up a letter of protection, and all you have to do is sign. In legal terms, the letter creates a lien on your case; when you win, the hospital gets its chunk of the damages and can go to court to enforce that claim.
Winning the Case
Then comes the hardest part: we have to win your case. That’s the only way we can get your medical care paid for, so it is vitally important to us to win for you.
Collecting on Letters of Protection
The hospital/care provider may need to register their lien before it is recognized. Then, when you win your case, the court will set aside that portion of the winnings and pay it to them directly.
The process essentially guarantees the money goes to the hospital; you won’t even get a chance to touch the money first.
FAQs About Medical Leins and Letters of Protection in South Carolina
Can You Use Letters of Protection in South Carolina?
Yes! There is no law against it; these agreements work under basic contract and lien laws.
Can Doctors Refuse to Treat You if You Don’t Pay?
If you go to a hospital for emergency medical treatment, they have to treat you whether you can pay or not. They also have to be set up to bill car insurance, Workers’ Compensation, and other insurance, so they cannot refuse on the grounds that they’re not set up to bill insurance properly. This means that whether you have insurance or a letter of protection in place or not, they have to treat you in an emergency.
For non-emergency care, or for care at other facilities (e.g., your family doctor, an urgent care clinic), you can be turned away if the facility is not equipped to treat you or if you cannot provide proof of insurance or payment up front.
What Happens if I Don’t Win Enough Money at Trial?
If for some reason your case does not win you enough money to cover the medical treatment, you are still responsible for payment the debt under the letter of protection. That can potentially be covered by your health insurance, or you may be able to set up a payment plan to pay over time.
Our goal is to get your case covered in full, and we will negotiate to push back against any low-ball offers that will not cover your medical bills.
Call Our South Carolina Personal Injury Lawyers Today
For a free case review, call the Florence, SC personal injury attorneys at Burriss Ridgeway Injury Lawyers at (803) 451-4000.
