How Do I Get My Medical Bills Paid After My Car Accident?

Car accidents are commonplace, but they can also have serious consequences. A car accident could lead to you needing sometimes extensive medical care, leading to medical bills. With someone else responsible for your accident and insurance companies involved in the situation, you may be wondering who is ultimately going to be responsible for your medical bills.

An experienced car accident attorney will be able to give you advice tailored to your specific situation and circumstances. If you or a loved one has been injured in a car accident and required medical treatment, contact the lawyers at Zinda Law Group today for a free case consultation.

How Are Medical Bills Paid After a Car Accident?

Unfortunately, the victim of a car accident is generally obligated to pay their own medical bills as they occur. Even if someone else was at fault for your car accident, you will still need to pay for the medical treatment that you receive. If you have health insurance, this will impact your payments for medical care.

However, this is not the end of your recourse after a car accident which requires medical bills. Make sure to keep careful documentation of all of the medical treatment that you receive after your car accident, specifying how the injury and treatment are related to the car accident.

John (Jack) Zinda

Founder / CEO

Over 100 years of combined experience representing injured victims across the country.

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Who Pays My Medical Bills After a Car Accident?

While you will be responsible for paying your medical bills yourself, after a car accident in which someone else was at fault you can bring a personal injury suit against that individual. In a personal injury suit, someone who has been injured as a result of the actions of another can ask to be given damages from the at-fault party as compensation for the injuries they have suffered. Your personal injury lawsuit damages will include all of the medical bills that you have incurred as a result of your car accident.

Neil Solomon

Partner

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How Do I Get My Medical Bills Paid After a Car Accident?

1. Talk to a lawyer

After a car accident in which someone else was at fault, it is important to talk to a lawyer as soon as possible about the status of any possible case. This is important for reasons such as evidence: helpful sources such as witnesses become less reliable over time, and so your lawyer will want to get to work on your case while it is still recent. However, it is also important for technical reasons—every state has statutes of limitations on personal injury claims, and they can be varied depending on the type of injury and the jurisdiction; you do not want your case dismissed on a technicality like not filing your lawsuit in time.

2. Go to the doctor.

If you had any injuries at the scene of your car accident you should seek medical treatment immediately. However, even if you were not seriously injured at the scene of the accident, you should still go to the doctor as soon as possible afterwards. Some injuries, such as concussions, can have serious and even life threatening consequences when left untreated, but are difficult to identify by medical personnel.

In addition to safeguarding your health, going to the doctor as soon as possible after a car accident is good for your personal injury claim because it provides a stronger link between your car accident and your injury. If there is a lot of intervening time between your accident and when you receive a diagnosis of injury, the attorney for the opposing party can argue that your accident occurred for other reasons after your car accident but before your diagnosis. Oftentimes, the most difficult part of a personal injury law case is proving that the injury of the plaintiff was caused by the action of the defendant, and delaying going to the doctor to receive diagnosis and treatment can make this even more difficult.

3. Document everything

Remember, you will be the one responsible for your medical bills when you incur them. In order to prevent this accident from costing you without compensation, be sure to document all the medical bills you receive. When you file your personal injury lawsuit, your lawyer will include these bills as part of the damages you are seeking for your accident, so it is important to have good records of what costs you actually incurred.

In addition to medical damages, be sure you are keeping documentation of all the costs you have experienced as a result of the accident. For example, if you needed to get your car repaired, make sure you have documentation of those bills, or if you were unable to work and lost wages, make sure that information is also available to your attorney so that he can include it in your request for damages.

4. Go through the personal injury lawsuit process

In order to actually receive compensation for your accident, you will have to go through the personal injury claim process, which is different for everyone depending on the circumstances of your case. It is possible the at fault party will want to settle the case right away, but you should never sign or agree to any settlement before speaking to your lawyer, so that you can fully understand the legal implications of your actions and what you might be giving up by agreeing to settle immediately.

Often, a settlement requires negotiations. If you have an experienced lawyer, he will be used to negotiating on behalf his clients. The length of the negotiations could depend on many things, including the resources available to the opposing party (a large company may have more resources to extend negotiations than a single individual) or their and your willingness to compromise.

If negotiations do not yield the result you want, your lawyer may find it best to proceed to trial. Trials can be long and expensive for both sides, but they can also be an effective way to seek compensation in a personal injury lawsuit. The two sides may also consider non trial measures such as arbitration.

In any case, your lawyer will help you navigate the personal injury suit process and can explain what the consequences of any decision you make will be. Remember that while your lawyer has experience pursuing personal injury cases and wants you to have the best possible compensation, how the case proceeds is ultimately your decision.

Need Help? Contact Zinda Law Group Today

The idea of pursuing a personal injury claim may sound overwhelming, but because you are responsible for your medical bills when they occur, pursuing a claim may be the only way you can be compensated for an accident that was not your fault. Having experienced legal representation can make the idea of filing a personal injury lawsuit less stressful and intimidating.

At Zinda Law Group, our car accident attorneys have recovered compensation for numerous clients, and our lawyers’ No-Win, No-Fee Guarantee means that no matter how your personal injury claim fares, you will only pay any legal fees if you receive a positive settlement—if you do not, you will pay nothing.