How To Pay Medical Bills In Texas Personal Injury Claims

After an accident in Texas, you can handle your medical bills by contacting your health insurance provider, filing a claim with the at-fault driver's insurance, pursuing a personal injury lawsuit, or arranging a medical lien.

Filing a claim with the liable party’s insurance allows you to obtain compensation for your relatable economic and non-economic injuries. Insurance providers can process your claim, verify your coverage, explain your benefits plan, pay for medical expenses, and negotiate costs with healthcare specialists. Medical liens are legal contracts between accident patients and healthcare professionals that ensure payments to the hospital come from the patient’s settlement. This allows patients to receive medical care without the burden of expensive upfront costs and high rates. 

If you need assistance getting your medical bills covered after an accident, call 866-434-0014 to speak with a car accident lawyer at Sneed & Mitchell LLP. An attorney will help you navigate the process and ensure that you receive the additional compensation that you’re entitled to.

Who Pays Medical Bills in a Car Accident in Texas?

The short answer is, it depends. If you did not cause the accident, the automobile insurance company of the liable driver is responsible for covering your medical bills. If you caused the car crash, your health insurance or auto insurance will generally be the entities that pay for your medical bills.

Texas is known as an “at-fault” or “tort” state for auto insurance, which means that the person whose negligence caused the collision is responsible for paying for other parties' injuries and also property damage resulting from the accident.

Texas requires that the innocent party prove that the liable party’s negligence caused the resulting damages. A motorist is negligent when they fail in their legal duty to operate their vehicle safely and obey traffic laws.

Generally, it takes a while for the appropriate automobile insurance company to accept responsibility, so finding a way to obtain medical care after the crash is usually the first priority. For expediency, victims of car accidents usually visit a nearby emergency room for an initial visit, and afterward, contact a local car accident attorney who can aid in determining the best way for their client to obtain additional care while liability is being sorted.

The Complexity of Medical Bills After an Accident

Medical bills can quickly rack up to become stressful financial burdens post-accident. Acting early and staying organized with both outstanding and paid bills is key to avoiding missing deadlines. Medical bills are often filled with complex codes that can be confusing for people who are unfamiliar with medical terminology. To better understand a bill, patients should request their doctor to send them an itemized bill that openly lists the services performed. It is not uncommon for duplicate, incorrect, or unauthorized invoices to be sent, which is why it is imperative to carefully review all the details of a bill. The elements of a bill that should be examined include the date, services performed, and charges rendered. If medical charges seem excessively high, it could be due to the lack of prior authorization for the physician and services, which is necessary for payment coverage.

Immediate Actions to Take Right After the Accident

• Seek Medical Attention Quickly: Prompt medical treatment is essential, even if injuries seem minor because it establishes the cause of the injuries, provides an immediate and accurate diagnosis, prevents damages from worsening, and documents important medical facts about the injuries. Failing to obtain medical attention at a reasonable time can lead to your claim being denied if fraud is suspected or evidence is lost. 

• File Necessary Reports and Collect Evidence: Important documents surrounding your injury such as police reports, photos, witness statements, medical bills, doctor notes, and wage statements should be collected as evidence to support your claim. This documentation is vital because it offers physical proof from multiple reliable sources regarding the cause of the accident, the extent of the injuries, and the treatment required. Keeping track of this evidence helps prevent delays in medical processing. 

Understand Your Insurance Coverage Options

You have several insurance coverage options to choose from depending on the state you live in and their requirements and your individual policy limits. Forms of insurance such as PIP, Medpay, and secondary health insurance all aid in helping you pay for medical expenses, auto accident injury costs, and sometimes lost wages. 

Auto Insurance and Personal Injury Protection (PIP)

PIP is a no-fault insurance plan, meaning that all medical expenses and injuries are covered in the event of a car accident for both the driver and passengers, irrespective of fault. The no-fault system aims to decrease auto insurance costs by inhibiting lawsuits over minor injuries. PIP insurance does not cover things such as vehicle damage, another person’s destroyed property, or vehicle theft. 

Personal Injury Protection coverage varies by state. Some states mandate PIP for all drivers, and others make it optional. Often, PIP covers benefits outside of the medical category, such as lost wages, rehab costs, disability expenses, household services, and death benefits for the driver and non-policy members who were involved in the accident. To check your state’s requirements and benefits regarding PIP, visit this website for more details. 

Medical Payments Coverage (MedPay)

Medpay can bridge gaps in coverage and ease out-of-pocket costs by providing coverage for the medical expenses that your health insurance plan does not cover. Medpay coverage follows the policyholder, meaning that the coverage extends outside of your vehicle as well. If you are hit as a passenger in another driver’s car, or hit while walking or riding your bike, Medpay will cover those damages. 

Medpay differs from health insurance plans because it covers multiple parties involved in the accident regardless of fault and does not charge deductibles or copays. However, Medpay has limits when it comes to how much they cover, which is usually between $5,000 and $10,000, and does not cover lost wages.

Health Insurance as Secondary Coverage

If your PIP or Medpay benefits run out, you should request an Explanation of Benefits (EOB) letter from your carrier to ensure that primary coverages are exhausted first, before contacting your health insurance company for secondary coverage. You will need to verify the type of accidents your insurance covers, as there could be coverage gaps for certain services. Once your secondary heath insurance is established, inform your medical providers that they will need to send all bills, invoices, and claims over to them to be subsequently handled. This allows all medical matters to be transitioned smoothly over to your new insurance handler. 

Another option if your PIP or Medpay benefits end is to give a Letter of Protection document to your healthcare provider which states they will be paid through your settlement amount so you may receive treatment immediately. However, because payments will be made from the compensation you get from your claim, it is important that you consult with an attorney before using an LOP to ensure the details of the document are correct and in your favor. Attorneys will calculate the LOP costs into your settlement claim to maximize your compensation amount. 

It is important to be aware of any deductibles, copayments, or out-of-pocket costs that you may be responsible for in your insurance plan. Some deductibles are extremely high and must be paid in full before you are eligible to receive any benefits from your insurance company. If you need help with understanding how your secondary healthcare plan works after your previous benefits run out, you can call (866) 434-0014 to speak with an experienced lawyer.

What to Do When Insurance Falls Short

If your insurance plan falls short of covering personal injury damages, you can take steps such as drafting a medical lien contract, negotiating a payment plan with your insurance provider, or pursuing a subrogation claim to address the remaining expenses of your injury.

Medical Liens and Payment Plans

Medical liens are contracts between health care providers and patients that delay payments for patients until a settlement is reached, which is used to pay for the remaining amount owed after medical treatment. This allows personal injury victims a reprieve from having to immediately pay expensive upfront costs. Once a settlement amount is decided upon for your injuries, the lienholder will collect the percentage they are owed for your medical treatments out of the total amount you receive back. 

To prevent debts from adding up and going to collections, you should analyze your finances, determine how much you can comfortably pay each month, and contact your insurance provider to request a payment plan. A good contact to reach out to to set up a payment plan is the account or billing department of your insurance company. Be transparent about your finances with the department that is handling your payment plan so they can understand what kind of budget you are working with. You can ask your provider if they have a financial help program to reduce the amount you owe them, or if they have a discounted rate system that waives interest fees. Finally, be willing to negotiate your payment options with your provider to come up with a fair middle ground. A lawyer is a helpful alibi when it comes to negotiating as they can help strategize ways to get you a monthly premium that you can afford. 

Subrogation Clauses and Double-Payment Prevention

Subrogation occurs when an insurance provider covers an accident’s expenses and then seeks reimbursement from the at-fault driver’s insurance company. When the third-party carrier is delayed in their ability to extend coverage to the accident victim, the insurer of the victim will step in to pay for the medical procedures that are needed immediately. A record of all the expenses paid will be kept and then given to the at-fault insurer in the form of a subrogation claim for them to be reimbursed. 

To prevent double payments on medical bills, it’s important to understand your insurance policy and its subrogation rights, organize medical documents, request a subrogation waiver, and consider hiring an attorney. Subrogation policies and claims can be tricky to understand, which is why it is critical to have legal representation to better comprehend your rights and to prevent double payments.

Documenting and Tracking Medical Expenses

Tracking and documenting medical expenses is really important to help ensure that your lawyer has the items needed to fully advocate on your behalf and secure the maximum amount of compensation. Organizing your bills and staying in close communication with your lawyer will also help avoid case delays and other unnecessary hurdles that could overwise occur.

Organize Your Bills and Keep Detailed Records

Organization is key when managing your medical care and bills after a personal injury accident. You will want to keep thorough records and ensure no important documents are missed. Be sure to gather all related documents, such as medical care bills, repair estimates, and records of lost wages. More serious medical conditions can result in hundreds of pages of documents, so categorizing the records by type can also help. If your attorney helped by connecting you with a medical provider, then the law firm might obtain records themselves, but you need to keep track of documents related to any type of care you received prior to retaining counsel.

The best client records might also include a personal pain journal, which includes entries on the severity of your pain on a daily or weekly basis and notes on how the accident may have impacted your ability to complete daily activities. You should also continue to photograph any visible scarring, burns, or other injuries to show how the areas heal over time. These documents become evidence that supports the need for any extended care and associated bills. You can store them either digitally, or in physical files for your case.

Communicate Regularly with Your Lawyer

Clear and consistent communication is very helpful when you’re dealing with accident-related bills. As a tip: there is no such thing as sharing too much information when you're facing accruing medical charges. During your claim, you could receive notices like Medical Liens, ERISA Liens, an Explanation of Benefits, or a Subrogation Letter, and the best response is to quickly update your lawyer with this information. Your attorney should have access to treatment records from providers they help you obtain through a Letter of Protection, but you can’t ever be sure, so send the law office everything. Being overly transparent and communicative will help avoid any payment deadlines and assist in guaranteeing that your settlement of the verdict includes consideration of every medical bill related to the accident.

When and Why to Hire an Attorney 

You should hire an attorney immediately after an accident so they can preserve crucial evidence, handle complex billing and insurance issues, and negotiate on your behalf for maximum settlement coverage. When it comes to medical bills, attorneys have the authority to discuss service charges with healthcare providers to ensure they are accurate, fair, and not duplicated. Any liens or subrogation claims can be reviewed and negotiated by an attorney to be reduced as much as possible. Attorneys are experts at ensuring insurance companies abide by the law with their claims. Billing statements, medical records, and lien notices are injury expenses that attorneys keep track of so the claimant can receive fair and accurate compensation. Oftentimes attorneys will use a victim’s pain and suffering to negotiate for a bigger amount of compensation. An attorney can increase the value of a claim by using witness statements from the victim’s family, calculating current and future wage loss, and presenting a list of all the activities the victim can no longer participate in. With medical liens, attorneys can negotiate lump-sum agreements with healthcare providers which significantly reduces the amount the claimant owes.  

Attorneys work on a contingency fee basis, meaning they don’t get paid unless the case wins. This arrangement provides financial relief and protection for the claimant, as there are no upfront costs to hire the lawyer and no payments required if the case is unsuccessful. Attorneys receive payment from the settlement that is awarded to the claimant, usually in the form of a certain percentage of the settlement’s total sum. The fee percentage is transparently outlined in the agreement between the attorney and the client. Attorneys understand that their payment comes out of their client’s compensation, so they often work to maximize the settlement amount to ensure that, even after the fees, their client still receives fair and appropriate compensation. If you are interested in working with an attorney for these benefits, call (866) 434-0014. 

Avoiding Common Pitfalls in Managing Medical Bills

When low settlement offers are accepted too quickly, or unpaid bills are not kept up with, this can cause unnecessary medical debt and poor compensation. Here are a few steps to avoid common pitfalls in managing your medical bills: 

Reject Low Settlement Offers

Early settlement offers may seem appealing at first glance, but they are often low amounts that are proposed quickly before you’ve had a chance to discover the full value of your claim. If you accept the amount too soon, it may prove to be inadequate to cover all of your future medical needs. A good way to determine the full worth of your claim is to immediately get medical treatment and send those bills to your insurance company to be totaled. This provides proof of how much money you have spent to treat and heal your injuries. You will want to consult with an attorney first before accepting any settlement offers or filing any claims because they will be able to calculate the cost for any future medical needs and procedures you will need into the amount you are owed. 

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Monitor Your Credit to Prevent Negative Impact

You can monitor your credit report to catch unpaid bills by checking your report on a quarterly basis through Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion, signing up for free credit monitoring services, tracking medical collection entries, and keeping a list of all unpaid bills. Financial management apps are also good tools you can utilize to help you stay up to date on any new bills or charges made. 

To dispute collections related to accident-related bills effectively, you should gather medical bills, insurance statements, and any other accident-related documents to get the evidence you need regarding your injury expenses, contact the collection company, get your payment history from them, and file a dispute with them online or by mail. An explanation of benefits is a good thing to get from your insurance company as it will help you understand exactly what was and was not covered after your injury, and show any remaining costs.

When filing a dispute, make sure that all necessary documents are attached to show proof of medical charges and payment history. You will want to explain in detail what is inaccurate, and which charges are currently under review by the insurance company. An attorney can assist you in drafting a proper dispute and can speak to the collections bureau on your behalf about accident-related collection issues.

Take Control of Your Medical Damages By Contacting A Car Accident Lawyer

Attorneys know best when it comes to determining the full value of your claim and negotiating with insurance companies to reach that value. Medical damages can be burdensome to deal with, especially when you are still in the process of recovering both physically and financially from them. A skilled attorney can assist you in dealing with credit bureaus, settlement offers, medical documents, payment plans, and secondary insurance companies. Call (866) 434-0014 for a free consultation with a Sneed and Mitchell lawyer today.