Author Topic: After a car accident  (Read 1639 times)

Victoria_18

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After a car accident
« on: December 06, 2017, 02:18:19 PM »
I was hit by a truck that ran through a red light. My car was totaled. I have been suffering injuries for months.

1.   I received big medical bills. The at-fault driver's auto insurance has not paid anything for the medical bills.  This is a car accident caused by the other driver. But I have good health insurance that may have significant discounts for medical bills with care providers. Should I ask my health insurance to pay the medical bills for now? Or should I patiently wait for at-fault driver's auto insurance to pay? What implications of the significant discounts of my health insurance may be for the final settlement? Would the delay of the payment affect my credit?

2.   Should I file a short-term disability for a few months? Would that be another hassle? Would that increase my premium?

I am just really overwhelmed, on pain meds, and have never been through an accident before. What else should I do? Any advice would be appreciated.

I'm a red panda

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Re: After a car accident
« Reply #1 on: December 06, 2017, 02:24:16 PM »
I can only respond with #1, but the at-fault driver's insurance won't pay anything until you settle a claim. So patiently waiting may instead get you sent to collections.
In most jurisdictions (I suggest you verify) you have 2 years to finalize a claim.  You are on the hook for all bills until that time; anything your insurance pays they will want to recuperate through the claim you settle- you have to pay them back.  If you use a lawyer to settle your claim, many insurance companies allow subrogation (so they pay a % of what you owe them to a lawyer) but not all do (so even though you have to pay back the insurance company you owe the lawyer a % of your share based on the total amount.)

Unless you are seriously, dramatically and life-alteringly injured, don't expect much by way of a pain and suffering payment.  Both my husband and I have life long injuries due to car accidents, but they (at least right now) are more annoying than life altering; our settlements paid our current medical bills but will do very little going forward; the pain and suffering payment as well as the "future medical" payments were laughable, and that was with the assistance of a lawyer.  We are quite concerned about changes to insurance making these pre-existing conditions that will prevent us from getting insurance later on...

JLee

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Re: After a car accident
« Reply #2 on: December 06, 2017, 02:54:13 PM »
Your insurance company should be handling this for you, IMO.

 

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