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How to Get Medical Bills Paid After a Car Accident in Florida - YouTube
Channel: JZ helps (a Florida injury law firm)
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- I'm Justin Ziegler, an
attorney with JZ Helps,
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a Florida injury law firm.
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Today I'm gonna talk about how to get your
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medical bills paid if you're injured
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in a Florida car accident, truck accident,
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or other type of vehicle accident.
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- [Voiceover] JZ Helps, a
Florida injury law firm.
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- The first thing to note, is
this video is gonna talk about
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accident cases in Florida,
those where someone else
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is at fault and caused your injury.
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Again, Florida has it's
own auto insurance laws
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in regard to getting
your medical bills paid.
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Every state has different laws,
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this video only applies if
you're injured in Florida.
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The first thing that's going to happen,
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or one of the first things
that's going to happen
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when you make a auto accident
claim, an insurance claim,
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with your own insurer, or the PIP insurer,
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which I'll talk about in a little bit,
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is they will send you what is called
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a Notification of PIP Benefits.
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It's an explanation of
how your auto insurance,
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the PIP insurer, is going
to pay medical bills.
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Now, that notification is
a letter you'll receive.
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One of the problems is
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it takes some time to get that letter,
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so you want to know immediately
after your accident,
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your car accident, how you
get your medical bills paid.
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That letter does a very good
job, but a very basic job
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of explaining PIP, the medical payments,
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portion of your case, lost wages,
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a little bit about your right to sue,
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but in my opinion, it's
too basic for your needs
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if you're hurt in an
auto accident in Florida.
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The first thing to note is,
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if you're injured in Florida,
in most car accidents,
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PIP, also known as no fault insurance,
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is going to apply, regardless of fault.
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In Florida, there's minimum limits of PIP.
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Meaning, the PIP insurance,
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personal injury protection insurance,
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can be greater than these minimal limits,
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but these are the limits,
that if you have PIP,
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they have to be a certain limit.
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They are $10,000 for medical bills,
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if you've sustained an
emergency medical condition.
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If you haven't sustained an
emergency medical condition,
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the limit, the PIP
insurer has to pay $2500.
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Another one of the minimal
PIP limits in Florida
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is for your lost wages.
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The limit is $10,000, I'm
gonna get more into that
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in a little bit, but
this video is primarily
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on getting your medical bills paid.
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Now whether you are insured with PIP,
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or if you're not, you're
gonna want to send a letter
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to the PIP insurer.
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This is a form letter that we have,
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and you should be able to find online,
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it's on our website, I'll put a link
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in the description to this video below,
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where you're going to ask the PIP insurer,
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amongst many other things,
if they have any defenses
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for why they would not cover
you with PIP insurance.
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PIP may still pay your medical bills
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even if you don't own a car in Florida.
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You're gonna want to
give your PIP information
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to every single medical
provider you treat with.
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The hospital, and all your doctors.
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If you fail to do that, and
you also have health insurance,
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in addition to the PIP not
paying your medical bills,
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PIP may not have to reimburse or pay back
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the health insurance lien,
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which if someone else
caused your accident,
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would result in a smaller settlement.
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Now, PIP pays 80% of
reasonable medical bills
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related to your accident.
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If you do not get treatment within 14 days
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of a Florida accident, PIP
does not have to pay a dollar,
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a penny, zero.
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PIP does not pay for
massage or acupuncture.
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Again, if you don't have an
emergency medical condition,
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If a doctor does not say you have an
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emergency medical condition,
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PIP will pay no more than $2500.
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The formula is right here, PIP pays 80%
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times your total medical bill.
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We're gonna take an example,
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assuming you have a $5000 medical bill.
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In that case, PIP would pay 80% of $5000,
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which would be $4000.
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$5000, 80% times $5000 is $4000.
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Now, PIP would only pay that amount
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if you had emergency medical condition.
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So, let's say that State
Farm was your auto insurer
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the PIP insurer, and
there's this $5000 bill,
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with an emergency medical condition,
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State Farm would pay the hospital $4000.
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Now, even if you have
a $5000 medical bill,
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and assuming State Farm pays $4000,
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you're left with a thousand dollar bill.
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How do you get that money?
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You would need to sue the at fault parties
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to get them to pay that
outstanding medical bill.
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You can also sue for additional things,
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such as pain and suffering,
and mental anguish,
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and things of that nature, but this video
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is focused on your medical bills.
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If we take that same $5000
medical bill example,
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but assume you did not have an
emergency medical condition,
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PIP would only pay $2500.
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Now, even though $4000 was
based on the calculations,
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80% of $5000, they only
have to pay up to the $2500.
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We'll look at another example.
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Assume your medical bill was $15,000.
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80% of $15,000 is $12,000.
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But PIP generally speaking,
there's exceptions,
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generally speaking, if you have basic PIP,
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it's gonna pay only up to $10,000.
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So even if your hospital bill is 15,
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and 80% would be $12,000,
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PIP is only gonna pay up to $10,000,
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that $5000 you would have to sue
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the responsible parties for.
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Now, you may have a PIP deductible,
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which I'm really not
gonna get into that now,
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there'll be another video on that.
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But understand, just because
you believe there's PIP,
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sometimes an insurance company
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will assert a coverage defense.
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Such as, when the
application was filled out,
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somebody lied, or
something of that nature.
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So just be aware of that, and
that's one of the reasons why
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you want to send a
written letter, certified,
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to the PIP insurer, asking
them for their defenses.
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Another insurance that is
on an auto insurance policy,
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yours or someone else's
that would cover you,
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is called Medical Payments Coverage.
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It is different from PIP,
it pays medical bills,
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it's also known as MedPay.
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Now, MedPay will pay the
amount that PIP did not pay,
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up to the limit of the MedPay coverage.
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Also, if you have Worker's Compensation,
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if you are injured during
the course and scope
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of your employment, while you are working,
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and there's Worker's
Compensation Insurance available,
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that can also pay your medical bills.
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There's many other types
of insurance coverage
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that may pay your medical bills as well.
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We have health insurance coverage,
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which generally in Florida
pays secondary to PIP.
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That means your auto insurance,
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or the auto, the PIP auto insurance
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should be billed first, the
health insurance company,
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if they get billed before PIP,
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and they know that it's a car accident,
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they can deny payment, rightfully.
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You're going to want to
give your health insurance,
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and any other insurance information,
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to the hospital or doctors
you treat with immediately.
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It's gonna result in getting
your medical bills paid faster.
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If you wait to give your health
insurance to the hospital,
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for example, and you just give your PIP,
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the PIP insurer is gonna get billed,
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you may be trying to settle your case
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with the at fault party,
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and you need to get those
bills to your health insurer
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so they can then pay them,
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and you can find out how
much you have to repay
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the health insurer.
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You may have Medicare.
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If Medicare pays some of your bills,
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they're entitled to get paid back.
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If you have an attorney, the
amount of money that Medicare
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is entitled to get paid back,
and when I'm saying paid back,
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I mean it from a total
settlement against any other
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responsible parties that
caused your accident.
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The same is true with Medicaid.
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If you have Medicaid,
and Medicaid pays bills,
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Medicaid is entitled to get paid back.
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Medicaid will reduce for your
attorney's fees and costs,
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which is one of the many
benefits of hiring an attorney.
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Hospitals, unfortunately, do
not have to bill Medicaid.
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Bills that PIP does not pay,
you're gonna want to go after
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the responsible parties whose
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carelessness caused your accident.
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And just remember, just
because someone gets a ticket
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in the accident, doesn't mean
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they're automatically responsible.
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In fact, in a civil trial,
the jury will never be allowed
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to hear that a ticket was issued.
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That being said, most often,
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the person who receives a
ticket is generally at fault.
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Now I've talked a lot about
getting your bills paid.
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In particular, the bills
that PIP does not pay.
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And I've said you go after
the responsible party.
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If the responsible parties are uninsured,
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or underinsured, that means
they don't have enough
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insurance to pay for your injuries,
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or they have no insurance,
you're gonna want to make a claim
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against any uninsured motorist
insurance that exists.
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It could be your own,
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it could be someone who you lived with,
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it can be the car that you were in
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at the time of the accident.
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And again, this video focuses
on getting your medical bills
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paid, you also may have a
claim against the responsible
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parties, or your
uninsured motorist insurer
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for any other damages, such as lost wages,
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pain and suffering,
mental anguish, scarring,
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anything of that nature.
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I hope you enjoyed this video.
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Please subscribe to my Youtube channel.
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Please Like this video.
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Thank you so much for watching,
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and feel free anytime to
call us at 888-594-JZHELPS,
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that's 888-594-3577 if you
were injured in Florida
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and you're looking for an
attorney to fight for you.
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