When you are injured in a motor vehicle collision, your medical providers will first bill your PIP insurance, then they’ll bill any available health insurance.
What is PIP insurance?
In Florida, all drivers are required to carry Personal Injury Protection insurance (PIP) on their own automobile insurance policies.
Your PIP insurance pays for 80% of any medical bill (related to the collision) until your PIP benefits run out.
How much do I have in PIP benefits?
If a physician says you have an “Emergency Medical Condition” then you’ll have $10,000.00 in PIP benefits available. If you do not have a medical record which says you have an “Emergency Medical Condition” then your PIP benefits are capped at $2,500.00.
The crash wasn’t my fault. Why do I have to go through my insurance?
A lot of my clients think it is unfair that they have to make a claim through their own automobile insurance and/or health insurance when their injuries were clearly another’s fault.
To which I say:
- For automobile insurance, this is the way our laws are structured. The Florida Legislature has required by statute that drivers carry Personal Injury Protection insurance and that the PIP insurance is what pays initially, regardless of fault, when someone is injured in a collision
- For health insurance, don’t worry. Your health insurance company has a right to be paid back. When your health insurance pays for medical treatment related to a collision, it has a right of subrogation. A right of subrogation is, basically, a right to be paid back out of any money you receive from the at-fault party.
How does an attorney help with the billing process?
At our firm, we send a letter to each of your medical providers. I call it a “Bill PIP, then Health Insurance” letter. It does exactly that. It tells the provider to bill your automobile insurance, then your health insurance and provides all of the necessary contact information so the billing process goes smoothly.
Then, we verify that the providers are properly billing your automobile insurance and your health insurance by staying in contact with your PIP adjuster and the company handling the subrogation claim for your health insurance.
Once we’ve reach a settlement on your behalf, we negotiate the subrogation claim with your health insurance company so that we minimize the amount you have to pay back to your health insurance company out of any settlement.
If you have been injured in an accident and the medical bills are piling up, please call the attorneys at Fasig | Brooks for a free consultation.
