USE YOUR HEALTH INSURANCE AFTER YOUR AUTO ACCIDENT!

I’m writing this blog for all current and prospective clients.  The title gets the point across, but for more detailed information, PLEASE READ ON!

After you get hurt in an accident, you’re going to incur treatment costs.  Those can add up really quickly.  The BEST way to protect yourself in that situation is to USE YOUR HEALTH INSURANCE!  I can’t say it or emphasize it enough.

Yes, I know that you want the at-fault party/their insurance (the “bad guy” for short) to pay for this, and that’s what you’ve hired me for.  Trust me, I want that too!  But our system isn’t immediate.  In North Carolina, your health costs are your own until you make someone else pay for them.  And we can’t do that until the end.  Now, “the end” can mean different things in different cases, but for most people who will only be getting treatment for 6 months or less, “the end” means after they’re done and they’ve reached Maximum Medical Improvement (MMI) meaning they’re as good as they’re going to get after the accident and then we try to settle the case with the bad guy.  At that point the goal is to get all of your losses reimbursed – including your health care expenses.

But what do you do in the meantime?  USE YOUR HEALTH INSURANCE!  This is exactly what you have it for, so USE IT!  If you fail to use it, it could end up drastically reducing your recovery, and can in some instances make your claim almost impossible to settle.

Of course, there are exceptions to every rule.  If your provider doesn’t accept health insurance – like most chiropractors – then of course you don’t use it.  But using your health insurance should be your default in these situations unless you have a darn good attorney-approved reason for not doing so.

You should also watch out for rogue health care providers like Wake Med and Johnston Memorial who, though they normally accept health insurance, will try to avoid processing it in a gambit to make more money at your expense.  If you’re in an accident and get treated by one of these providers, force your health insurance down their throat however you can, and let me or your attorney if it’s not me know if you don’t have success with that.

If you don’t have health insurance, then try to do a payment plan to avoid getting sent to collections.  If you can’t do that, then let me know if I’m on your case and I can try to forestall collections, but there’s no law that really can stop that; we can only try.

In closing, USE YOUR HEALTH INSURANCE!