AUTO INJURIES - INSURANCE RELATED QUESTIONS

Unlike some health insurance companies, automobile insurance cannot discriminate against chiropractic care and they cannot require you to see a certain physician for treatment. In other words, you can choose to receive care from any chiropractic doctor, medical doctor or combination thereof.

If you are injured in an automobile accident, your own automobile insurance will only pay for your medical expenses if you have chosen "Med Pay", otherwise, you will have to go after the other party for reimbursement assuming there was another party involved in the accident and they were at fault.

Med Pay

"Med Pay" or "automobile medical payments coverage" is an option you may or may not have chosen on your automobile insurance. When you select this option, your automobile insurance will pay for any medical expenses incurred as a result of injuries sustained in or around an automobile. Med pay covers you regardless of fault and does not cause an increase in your insurance rates when used. The only requirement is that the chiropractic and/or medical bills be "reasonable" and the treatment be "necessary".

Your insurance policy should state this coverage if you do indeed have it. If you can't find it on your policy, be sure to check with your insurance company to see if you do have this coverage - if you find that you don't have it - get it. We recommend you choose a minimum of $5000.

The major benefits of "Med Pay" are:

covers you whether you're injured in your own vehicles or someone else's vehicle- whether you're riding as a passenger or struck by another vehicle while a pedestrian
it will also cover any other individuals involved in the accident and will often cover family members involved in accidents in which the holder of the med pay coverage was not involved
pays your chiropractic/medical bills during your treatments
will not increase your insurance rates - regardless of who was at fault

BACK TO MENU

Health Insurance Coverage

Health insurance, similar to med pay, is a no-fault coverage which pays for your medical and often your chiropractic bills during the course of your treatments. Unlike med pay, health insurance policies may or may not cover chiropractic care as they are not regulated by the State Insurance Code and State Department of Insurance - which does not allow insurance policies to discriminate against any type of care, including chiropractic.

This is why having med pay is so important. It's also another reason to be sure that your general health insurance plan covers chiropractic care and does not restrict your choice of chiropractic doctors.

3rd Party Coverage

This type of coverage is the coverage provided by the other party's insurance company. This coverage is only available if the other party was fully at fault. It may also provide coverage if the other party was partly at fault. However, fault as well as the extent of coverage may have to be determined by trial if fault and/or total settlement amount cannot be agreed upon. This type of coverage is only available at the end of your treatments.

In other words, if another party is at fault, their insurance should fully cover your medical/chiropractic bills. However, payments are only made once at the end of care - there are no payments made while your treatments are being rendered.

Under/Uninsured Motorist Coverage

This is another option you may have chosen on your automobile insurance policy. This type of coverage will pay for your medical/chiropractic bills in the event that the other at fault party is uninsured or underinsured.

While you may still sue that party for coverage of your bills, generally speaking, they most likely have coverage because they have nothing to give or to lose - you can't get blood out of a turnip.

Generally, the at fault party is responsible for medical/chiropractic bills, property damage, as well as pain and suffering. However, fault is often disputed and there is often varying degrees of fault making things more complicated. Ultimately, this may have to be determined in court.

According to the Insurance Research Council, 63% of injuries are paid by the injured individuals own automobile insurance company, 55% by the auto insurance company of another vehicle, 36% by health insurance, 20% by government programs and 19% by workers' compensation insurance. Almost 60% of those injured reported to have used 2 or more sources of payment.