by herbie » Fri Oct 29, 2010 02:48 am
My daughter was walking and hit by a car traveling 30 miles per hour. She has had numerous surgeries, lost much time from work. had to withdraw from college etc. The 20 yr old that hit her only had 25000 worth of coverage. The car was registered to her mother, and the insurance was in her mothers name as well. We are in Texas and it accident was determined to be the drivers fault. Our UI will cover 50000, but bills are getting close to 200000. What do we do?
Posted: Fri Oct 29, 2010 02:52 am Post Subject:
contact a lawyer they should be able to help you your home owners might help depending on your cov.
Posted: Fri Oct 29, 2010 02:59 am Post Subject:
Two choices... accept the money from the other carrier and yours or hire an attorney to file suit against the other driver and mother, obtain an excess verdict (a judgement... which is a piece of paper), pay your attorney 40% of the $75,000 you collect from the two carriers and pay the rest to the medical providers. You are then left with the remaining medical bills and a judgement that you can pursue further for payment from the other party. You can attach that to any property that the person has or perhaps other mans if TX allows.
Bottom line, you probably won't see much or anything additional if you obtain a judgement and you will have paid an attorney 40% of what you could have easily been paid by just asking the carriers for the money.
You don't have any health insurance?
$200k is some serious medical expenses.
You can also see about getting them reduced. Most medical providers will work with you as otherwise you don't have much incentive to pay their bills. Still, even if they reduce them by 50% you won't have another to pay them.
The cost difference between $50k and $300k in UIMBI coverage is probably very small. I know it's hindsight but you should see about increasing that limit.
You may want to speak to an attorney and see if they would take your case just for payment of the excess verdict. I'd certainly not pay an attorney to collect the $25k + $50k as both carriers should be immediately offering up those limit.
You can't accept the BI payment without your carriers authorization... which they should give without any problem. Also, both carrier will need a release signed before they issue any payments.
Posted: Fri Oct 29, 2010 05:29 am Post Subject:
The cost difference between $50k and $300k in UIMBI coverage is probably very small. I know it's hindsight but you should see about increasing that limit.
That's one good ploy. But the OP should've given given it a consideration long before. 50k is not quite a high limit.
Alternatively, I've gone through numerous posts suggesting a reduction in medical costs. Is there a good way of bringing down such costs?
Posted: Fri Oct 29, 2010 05:31 am Post Subject:
But the OP should've given given it a consideration long before
HenceI know it's hindsight
Posted: Fri Oct 29, 2010 05:34 am Post Subject:
Alternatively, I've gone through numerous posts suggesting a reduction in medical costs. Is there a good way of bringing down such costs?
Posted: Fri Oct 29, 2010 05:38 am Post Subject:
You call the medical providers, let them know you don't have the funds to pay the entire amount, your settlement is not enough to pay all of the bills, etc... and ask if they would be willing to accept less as full payment.
Posted: Fri Oct 29, 2010 11:21 am Post Subject:
ask if they would be willing to accept less as full payment.
Especially given the state of the US economy, there are no hospitals and few, if any, physicians or surgeons or other medical providers, that would not agree to reduce their billings. They do it every day of the week when they accept their negotiated payments from the HMOs and PPOs they contract with.
Posted: Fri Oct 29, 2010 03:42 pm Post Subject:
Most medical providers would rather get something up front then to have to turn it over to collections that may never come seeing they don't have the funds. It really depends on the provider, their cash flow and current business situation, how much will it take them to collect the full bill (collection company) and the amount of the bill.
Posted: Fri Oct 29, 2010 04:15 pm Post Subject:
We have medical insurance, but since it's an accident caused by someone else, they want to be reimbursed for the claims. We have spoken to a lawyer and he said he will negotiate the bills for us to try to get them reduced. Also he is looking at the hospitals since they completely missed her having a broken leg that she was complaining about for 6 weeks, to see if that has contributed to the 2 surgeries she had to have on her leg. She has been in the hospital for the last 5 days with a infection in the leg that had surgery 3 weeks ago, They had to do surgery again to clear up the infection.
Will Homeowners insurance help?
If we get a judgment against her and her mother, can they simply file bankruptcy and eliminate the judgment?
We have maxed ourselves out financially with copay's and our percentages and there is still no end in sight. She has IV antibiotics at home now that cost us 600 per week after insurance. Is there anywhere we could turn for financial assistance?
Posted: Fri Oct 29, 2010 07:20 pm Post Subject:
We have medical insurance, but since it's an accident caused by someone else, they want to be reimbursed for the claims
Ah.... thank goodness you have health insurance! Thank goodness, thank goodness, thank goodness!Are you going to collect for your medical bills or is that money for other expenses which health insurance won't cover (such as pain and suffering)? That is the kicker. Your argument is that the amount is so low it does not even address what you are entitled to... so why should it be considered payment for medical treatment? You should be able to negotiate with your health insurance company on this matter. Personally, I'd play hard ball with them and make them come knocking at my door before I even spoke to them about any amount of repayment. Most health carriers are not very aggressive in this regard. Other times if they get _anything_ paid back they are happy. Your position should be that you are not even getting paid what you are owed and you already pay for health coverage... if you are paying for health coverage why should they also be taking _your_ settlement money to cover the expenses? I say "your" meaning the amount that just covers your loss. Again, who is to say the amount being offered to you is "medical bill" money or "pain and suffering" money?
We have spoken to a lawyer and he said he will negotiate the bills for us to try to get them reduced.
I should hope so... since he will be spending about a hour to collect that $75,000 and pocketing 33% of it for himself.Also he is looking at the hospitals since they completely missed her having a broken leg that she was complaining about for 6 weeks
Again.... see my statement just above this. This _might_ make the attorneys bill worth the expense.Will Homeowners insurance help
Nope.If we get a judgment against her and her mother, can they simply file bankruptcy and eliminate the judgment?
Depends on the state laws... and I won't even venture a guess. I do know I've been hearing that bankruptcy laws are not the "walk away from everything" situation that people used to claim it was. I've heard that many debts are not simply erased. But it still does not mean you will collect anything. Some states allow a judgement to be attached to real property and that is about all... some states (here in UT) allow you to garnish a person's wages and take them down to just above minimum wage. What would you do if you had this done and were only allowed to make minimum wage the rest of your life?Is there anywhere we could turn for financial assistance?
That is certainly beyond my knowledge... you'd really need to contact the people in your state and ask. What I will say is that I've make _every_ attempt at keeping 100% of your settlement money and not paying your health carrier back. I'm betting that they won't have a problem with this.I'm sorry but I still need to mention that you are taking a huge hit if your attorney takes 33% of that $75,000. With almost all certainly, the carriers will be happy to simply offer that money up, no questions asked. It seems like you will be paying the attorney $25,000 to have the check mailed to him instead of you. Perhaps your attorney is willing to work something out on this matter.
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