Who Is Going to Pay for My Hospital Bills After a Car Accident?

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Hi, I am Mike Hancock with Hancock Injury Attorneys and the most common question I get from my clients after they have been involved in a car accident is “who is going to pay for my hospital bills?”

To answer this question we have to look at the various insurance coverages involved. First and foremost, Florida is considered a no-fault state for auto insurance. We follow what is known as the “Florida no-fault insurance” law. Everybody has to have no-fault coverage, which is also known as PIP, which stands for personal injury protection coverage. It follows you around no matter what vehicle you are in and that part of the policy is always $10,000 and pays for 80% of each medical bill and hospital bill, up to a maximum of $10,000.

The second type of insurance coverage that’s going to pay for your hospital bills are the at-fault party’s bodily injury liability coverage (also referred to as BI insurance). That bodily injury liability coverage pays for things such as your medical bills and hospital bills, your lost wages, and your pain and suffering.

The third area that we look to get your medical bills paid it is we look to your own policy to see if in addition to your no-fault or PIP coverage whether you have something called medical payments coverage. Not everybody does but if you do it’s typically in the $1,000-$5,000 range. How medical payments coverage works is that PIP pays 80% of each medical bill and then they will bring over 20% from your medical payments coverage (until it’s exhausted) and thus your medical bill is paid 100%.

Then the last area we like to go to pay for your hospital bills is your uninsured motorist insurance, also referred to as UM. In Florida, uninsured motorist coverage also includes underinsured coverage. So uninsured motorist coverage applies whether the at-fault party had no bodily injury coverage available at all or whether the at-fault party did not have enough bodily injury coverage to fully cover your damages.

I’m Mike Hancock with Hancock Injury Attorneys and if you have any other questions about who pays for your hospital bills give me a call at 813-534-6929 and I’d be happy to answer any questions you have.