Health Insurance in Your Personal Injury Case

Some people are afraid to use their health insurance to pay for medical treatment to treat injuries from a car wreck or other personal injury case. You pay health insurance for when you get sick or injured, so use it! And your health insurance company can get better rates on treatment costs than you can without insurance. While your insurance company might have a right to reimbursement for their costs based on their contract with you for services, Georgia law protects you to the extent that your health insurance company cannot recover monies from any settlement or judgment until you are "made whole," both economically and non-economically. That includes lost wages and general pain and suffering damages. What constitutes being "made whole" can be fact specific to your case and a matter of litigation.

One exception is that if your insurance is an ERISA plan, as many company-based plans are, they have a right of reimbursement under federal law. If you do not have health insurance or your insurance does not cover needed treatment, such as a chiropractor, you can try to obtain treatment on a lien. This means that you do not pay for treatment as you go, but the medical provider has a right to their portion of any settlement or judgment you obtain in your case. The final bill of a chiropractor or other medical provider treating on a lien can be negotiated, particularly by an attorney. It is important to remember that medical providers have no obligation to treat you with a lien because they are taking on the risk of providing treatment without an absolute guarantee of payment.

If you have questions about your personal injury case, feel free to contact Kyle Jarzmik.