Who Pays for the Medical Bills after a Car Accident?

So, who pays the medical bills is a great question. There’s way more nuance in it than it should be sadly. The ultimate answer is the at-fault driver pays if they have coverage. But there’s some steps it takes to get there. So, the first line of coverage is actually what’s called PIP insurance. This is attached to your own auto insurance and in Utah, most people have $3,000 in PIP. So, if you get injured in a wreck and you go to the ER, the first bill will be built to PIP. Once PIP is exhausted, then health insurance will cover, but only after PIP exhausted. So again, one of the things we help do is coordinate that. We make sure we are talking with the PIP carrier, find out when they’ve exhausted all their payment, and then we notify the health insurance carriers so they can start picking up the bills so that our clients aren’t getting those bills. So, PIP stands for personal injury protection. You’ll see it in your auto policy. You have to have it in auto policy in Utah unless you specifically wave it. So PIP goes first, then your health insurance is next, and then whenever we settle a case, you know, we’re getting the settlement from the at-fault driver’s insurance company. And that’s who ultimately will pay back everybody. So PIP has a lean against the case, meaning they want reimbursement for what they paid out from the at-fault driver. Your health insurance will have a lean. They want reimbursement for what they’ve paid out, and so will every other medical provider that has an outstanding balance. So our job is to get a settlement, make sure we’ve accounted for all of those, things pay off all those providers and lean holders and then put the balance of the money in our client’s pocket. So again, that’s a roundabout answer to say it’s complicated. We handle the complications, and in the end, the at-fault driver will cover all those things, but it doesn’t happen until the end of the case.