What is Med-Pay or Medical Payments Coverage?

What is Med-Pay?

When you purchase automobile insurance you have the option to include medical payments coverage or “Med-Pay” to your policy. Often times you have the option to choose how much Med-Pay you want to add to your policy, frequently ranging from $1,000.00 upwards of $10,000.00 depending on the insurance company.  The purpose of Med-Pay is to pay medical bills incurred in an accident.

How Does Med-Pay Work?

Usually Med-Pay is no fault, meaning that you can access Med-Pay whether or not you are deemed to be at fault for an accident. The Med-Pay process works as follows: if you are injured in an accident you can submit bills for treatment to your own insurance company for payment.  For example, if you went to a chiropractor for injuries suffered in an auto accident, you could submit the chiropractic bills to your own insurance carrier for payment instead of having to pay these same bills out of pocket.

Do I Have to Pay Back Med-Pay?

Depending on the insurance policy, you may have to reimburse your insurance company for any Med-Pay benefits that the company pays out.  However, reimbursement is not until the end of the case, which allows you to get treatment without having to pay out of pocket until the case is resolved.  Other times, it may be possible to negotiate the amount or percentage of the Med-Pay that is reimbursable.

What if I Have Health Insurance?

If you have health insurance and seek care that would be covered through your health insurance, you may not be able to use your Med-Pay benefits.  In such cases, the Med-Pay will be secondary to any health insurance benefits.  However, for some types of medical care such as chiropractic care, which is generally not covered under many health insurance plans, you may be able to utilize your Med-Pay benefits.

Other Med-Pay Scenarios

The attorneys at Haffner & Morgan are very experienced handling other Med-Pay scenarios, such as determining whether a business has Med-Pay if you suffer a slip or trip and fall injury.  In addition, we have extensive experience handling other Med-Pay scenarios such as if you are a passenger in a vehicle that is rear ended, the driver has Med-Pay, and you have Med-Pay under your own automobile policy.  Contact us today to see if we can help you with your injury accident, including making sure that you utilize any and all available Med-Pay benefits.