If you’ve suffered from losses or damages due to someone’s negligence, you might be filing for a personal injury lawsuit. But, what do you need to know about medical insurance payments and ways it affects a personal injury lawsuit. Learn more in the following.
Is There Insurance Coverage for Personal Injuries?
If you’re deciding to file or not to file for a personal injury claim, you must first determine if the at-fault party has liability coverage to cover for the damages of the incident or accident.
- If it is a slip and fall incident, does the property owner have liability coverage for injured guests, visitors or customers?
- If it’s a dog bite incident, the homeowner’s insurance will often apply to it.
- If it’s a car accident, does the at-fault party have insurance?
But in some cases, the at-fault party isn’t covered by any insurance or the accident was by an unknown person like in the event of a hit-and-run. In this case, there’s no one that could answer to the losses and damages. If it’s your situation, your insurance policy might have to cover the personal injury damage/loss.
How Do Medical Liens Work?
First, a medical lien is a repayment demand to be placed against a personal injury claim.
For example, if health insurance issues a claim in order to recover what they spent for the medical treatment of the injured party, the attorney or that person may have to pay this medical lien under subrogation. You can talk to your attorney for what to expect under this process.
In other cases, hospitals can file a lien (varies from state to state) for a repayment for care-related expenses to the injured party or patient.
There are some hospitals that will ask for your sign on a lien letter stating your approval for a hospital lien against a settlement.
On the other hand, there are also government liens for unpaid Medicaid plans.
For example, if the state or government has paid any medical care following the accident, it can exercise its right to recover the expenses should you recover money from another party later based on the government program to which you’re under.
On releasing a lien, a medical lien holder can accept less than what they’ve paid for and then release you from it. But if you want to know more about how to reduce a lienholder’s claim, you can ask your personal injury lawyer about it.
If you have an attorney and have agreed to pay a certain percentage of any personal injury settlement you received, put this into consideration when filing a personal injury claim against walmart.
It is why you must understand how a medical or hospital lien works and why you need a seasoned Las Vegas personal injury lawyer who can help you receive the best settlement possible.
Factors Affecting Payouts for Bodily Injury Claims
In addition to knowing about medical liens, you should also know what factors could affect any final settlement amount to receive.
For one, learn about your personal bodily injury claim’s value. Do it by adding special damages or hard costs. These specials are –
- Chiropractic or medical bills
- Injury-related out-of-pocket expenses
- Income loss
- Lawn care and/or cost of replacement services
- Therapy or treatment bills
As you have receipts and bills, you will not find it hard to figure out your special damages. You just need to make sure that you’re calculating your pharmacy and medical costs even if a portion or it is total was under a healthcare insurance coverage.
On the other hand, it can be challenging to figure out general damages that include emotional distress, suffering and pain. As there’s no objective measure on how the injury has affected your life because the adjuster will not take your word for it.
Nevertheless, you can add the total amount of your special damages, about two times, to calculate for your suffering and pain. Also, the total general and special damages are both good estimates of the claim’s value.
But if you want to protect your financial interests, you might want to talk to a personal injury lawyer especially if you have suffered from any permanent or severe injury. He/she has the knowledge and legal tools to help you navigate this complicated process and can help you be compensated to the full amount you deserve.
