If you are injured in an accident, you may face thousands of dollars in medical expenses or more. Even if you have health insurance, your policy may not cover the total cost of all the surgeries you may need or the physical therapy needed to help you recover. Therefore, it is important to know who is responsible for paying your medical bills if you have been hurt.
What Types of Costs are Covered in a Personal Injury Case?
There are a variety of medical costs that can be covered as a part of a personal injury case. For instance, you may be entitled to the cost of seeing a doctor or the cost of having a surgery performed as part of the recovery. You may also be entitled to compensation for the crutches you needed while your ankle was broken or the wheelchair you had to buy because you were paralyzed from the waist down.
If you have to make modifications to your car or to your home, those expenses will be covered by the person who hurt you. Finally, it may be possible to have the person who hurt you pay for any medicine that you may need to take either now or in the future to keep pain in check or manage any other symptoms that you may have.
Were Injuries Caused By the Negligence of Another Person?
If your injuries were caused by the negligence of another person, he or she will be responsible for paying your medical bills. In some cases, that person will have a liability insurance policy that will cover any costs that you incur as part of a jury award or negotiated settlement.
However, there is a chance that the insurance company will refuse to pay or will only pay a fraction of your eventual award. In that scenario, you may have to go after the person who hurt you in court to get the balance of the money owed. It may also be possible to negotiate with the insurance company to have them cover a larger portion of your overall medical costs.
What If You Were Partially at Fault?
You may be held partially responsible for your accident by a jury or admit partial responsibility as part of a settlement. This reduces the amount of your settlement by the percentage you were found to be at fault. For instance, if you were found to be 40 percent at fault, you would only get 60 percent of your award. Therefore, if you incurred $10,000 in medical costs, you would be on the hook for $4,000. If you are deemed to be 51 percent or more at fault for an accident, you may get nothing at all depending on where the accident took place.
What Happens If the Person Who Hurt You Dies?
It is possible that the person who caused an accident that caused your injuries dies in that accident. In such a scenario, he or she would be responsible for paying your bills from assets that his or her estate may hold. This may include liquidating a house, a pension plan or anything else of value that could go toward your medical bills. The other person’s auto, home or life insurance company should still pay damages according to the terms of the policy, even if he or she is killed in an accident.
If you have been hurt in an accident, you deserve to be compensated for your medical expenses. With the help of a personal injury attorney, you may obtain compensation from one or more liable parties as deemed appropriate by a jury or through a settlement. This may help you to pay current and long-term medical costs without compromising your financial situation.
The Lamber Goodnow injury law firm, together with its partner firms in Chicago, are experienced in personal injury cases, including the many questions you may have in regard to medical bills . Our Chicago personal injury lawyers never charge a fee, unless we win your case. Get a risk free consultation today.