What can a person use their own under insurance for?

Posted: Thu Apr 17, 2008 09:09 pm Post Subject:

You would need to have Uninsured Motorist Bodily Injury to address your loss. You should probably discuss this with your attorney.

As far as your last statement, no it does not. No way to sugar coat it. Your attorney could file a lien against the at fault party but your carrier would have a right of recovery for this amount against the other party as well.

Posted: Fri Apr 18, 2008 05:27 am Post Subject:

I am not too worried about med. in the near future because my hausband has pretty good coverage.

Posted: Fri Apr 18, 2008 05:43 am Post Subject:

Hi tcope,

Your attorney could file a lien against the at fault party but your carrier would have a right of recovery for this amount against the other party as well.

Posted: Fri Apr 18, 2008 09:22 am Post Subject:

What state? You would have to exhaust your PIP or it would need to be clear that you would exhaust your PIP and would need additional coverage.

If you have an attorney, these would be questions that I would ask him. Is the insurance company not cooperating? What were the reasons you got an attorney in the first place?

Posted: Fri Apr 18, 2008 09:26 am Post Subject:

Also, is the person at fault's company paying you BI from their insured's policy? You would need to get them to pay limits to you before your UnderInsured would kick in or your company could pay you and then try to subrogate it back.

There's a lot of things that would make it easier to answer your questions if you provided them.

Posted: Fri Apr 18, 2008 10:29 am Post Subject:

My husband was not with me in the wreck. I meant his personal health insurance. It would kick in after my auto med. ins. was used up. I have spoken to them about this matter because I was concerned. Also I am not sure what a PIP is. My state is PA. The insurance company I haven't spoken to myself. I have an atty. but they don't seem to be answering my questions. All I keep hearing is "Let us wait and see". Well it isn't their health or their future. they keep putting me off when I ask about settling this claim it is always "After this treatment" or "lets just see what happens with treatment...we have two years and it hasn't been 1 year yet".
Yes I keep asking and expressing I finacially can't wait that long but I never get another answer. I have no clue what the other persons limits was. I am new to all this and so confused. This is also why I got an atty since I don't understand the insurance world or the terminology they use. That is why I didn't know what PIP was.

Posted: Fri Apr 18, 2008 10:30 am Post Subject:

I don't think your UIM will kick in at all on this claim if I am understanding this part correctly....

but once I pay the atty and recover my lost wages that doesn't leave much od an award for a lifetime of lim itations and pain.

You would have to exhaust your PIP or it would need to be clear that you would exhaust your PIP and would need additional coverage.

Posted: Fri Apr 18, 2008 11:42 am Post Subject:

First, you are _paying_ your attorney to handle this matter for you... he/she should have all of these answers for you. Second, if you have an attorney, the other carrier should not be speaking to you directly at all on this matter. Your attorney would have sent them a letter to this affect.

I can try to clear up a few points... the other carrier will eventually make a settlement offer. In order for that amount to be paid you will need to sign a release. The release states that you will accept that amount and never collect a dime more. You state that you will need treatment the rest of your life (I think this might not be known for sure at this time) but do you know exactly what your future medical bills are going to be? Everyone needs to have a _very_ good understanding of this before an offer of settlement can be made. That is why the other carrier needs to wait. I'm sure if you wanted an amount from them now, they would give you an amount... but it would be very low and not enough to address the uncertain amount of treatment you may have in the future. The other complication to this is that your attorney is looking to earn as much money as he/she can. This amount is 1/3 of your settlement. So the more bills you incur before settlement, the more money he/she makes. In the meantime, the claim is not costing the attorney anything. So why should the attorney try to settle now for a lower amount. That is one way to look at it. The other is that the attorney is trying to earn you the most amount of money and the longer you treat before settlement, the higher the settlement will probably be. For example, how do you know that something else won't be found or go wrong in the near future and cause you to need even more treatment? The longer you wait, the less likely that something like this will happen.

Your health insurance should pick up any medical expenses that your own carrier is not paying. Granted, your health insurance company will want to be paid back once you settle but the other carriers offer should include that amount. Again, you should have your attorney explain all of this information to you as _that_ is why you are paying him/her 1/3 of your settlement.

I reviewed PA no-fault laws and they are a little confusing. They changed on 1990 and it appears that PIP (No-fault coverage) _might_ be mandatory up to $10k... but I'm not clear on the issue. It also appears that you can limit your right to sue the at fault party in return for a lower premium. OP, you really just need to have a conversation with your attorney about your coverage and how everything will work out in your case.

Posted: Fri Apr 18, 2008 12:08 pm Post Subject:

Think carefully before signing a full release of claim.

Posted: Fri Apr 18, 2008 02:01 pm Post Subject:

I wish my atty would get on the phone so I could ask him some questions. I always ask for him but some lady gets on the phone and talks to me. She answers some questions and the ones she doesn't have answers to she says she will find out and get back to me. This isn't always the case. I didn't even know what PIP was...it was never explained to me. The lifetime medical comes from crps..that is what my doctors tell me I have. They say it is common in accident victims and usually worsen over time. I can not bend my wrist very much without pain and it is always swollen. this accident happened last April. He says there is always going to be some treatment since it doesn't go away.
I guess my worry here is that in my state you can have as low as $15,000 in coverage. you state that the atty. gets a third. that much they have told me. So that gives them $5 000 , my lost wages will eat up most of the rest. So does that mean I am left with almost nothing for pain and suffering? I am not saying that is what she had> I am just thinking worst case senerio. I don't speak with the other ins. company at all. Mine just doesn't get me anywhere. They say they may never know how much the other person had. This worst case scenario is what had me wondering about my own underinsurance. If I can't access it after not getting enough from the other company then I can't understand why I pay for it. I also read somewhere on the net that if I can access it they will deduct the medical I used from my policy off of it.
I know I pay an atty but I just ain't getting any answers. Recently they did tell me they may go ahead and start requesting all my records and forward them to other company. The lady I spoke to says they reviewed everything and feel they have m ore than enough. So I am thinking it is almost time for them to settle this. Another reason I am asking these questions. I guess this all wouldn't matter as much if I weren't drowning in debt becasue of lost work and since returning I am having a lot of problems. I went back on my own accord two months ago but the doc put me on limitations. No lifting with that wrist but i can use it along with the other as long as it isn't over 10 lbs. Not much to work with. Thanks