by Guest » Sun Oct 09, 2011 10:36 pm
An uninsured driver rear ended me a little over a week ago. I contacted my insurance and they estimated $3000 damage to my car, it has been in the shop for about a week now. I've been having back, neck, shoulder and arm pain since the accident, and it hasn't improved. I went to the ER, saw my own dr four days after the accident and saw an orthopedic dr last week. I am on pain meds, muscle relaxer and anti-inflammatory, and I am supposed to start physical therapy next week. I have called my insurance many times but have not gotten a clear explanation of how this is going to be paid for. Should I have my doctors bill my health insurance or auto? I know I have $1000 in Med Pay, but does that amount go directly to the providers, or to me?
My main problem is that I can't afford all the copays for the dr visits and PT, along with my deductible and the cost of the rental car while mine is in the shop. I am self employed and have not been able to work much at all due to my injuries. Does my Uninsured Motorist coverage help with lost wages at all? Can I get the $1000 Med Pay now, since I've already gone over that amount in bills, or is it done when I'm completely done with treatment? Thank you for any advice.
My main problem is that I can't afford all the copays for the dr visits and PT, along with my deductible and the cost of the rental car while mine is in the shop. I am self employed and have not been able to work much at all due to my injuries. Does my Uninsured Motorist coverage help with lost wages at all? Can I get the $1000 Med Pay now, since I've already gone over that amount in bills, or is it done when I'm completely done with treatment? Thank you for any advice.
Posted: Sun Oct 09, 2011 10:45 pm Post Subject:
I live in Oklahoma, if that helps. Thank you.
Posted: Mon Oct 10, 2011 12:19 am Post Subject:
You are in a tough spot. Your Uninsured Motorist should pay for everything. However, it's not always immediate. So if you can't afford copays, you may want to consider having the doctors bill your insurance company directly.
What is your Uninsured Motorist policy limit? If it is high enough, another option you may want to consider is getting a referral for a good lawyer and hearing what he has to say. That could get more of your costs paid for, but it could also take years for you to collect.
I'm not sure why the insurance company is making you pay for a car rental. That should have been paid for. You may want to contact your state department of insurance and see what they have to say about that. They can generally guide you as to what your options are and what the insurance company should be paying for.
Regarding your medical care, you could be treating for months or even years. It's going to be difficult to settle your case while you're still treating. So keep that in mind when considering your various options.
Good luck to you.
Posted: Mon Oct 10, 2011 12:37 am Post Subject:
Thank you for the response. I don't have rental car replacement coverage included in my policy, so that is why my insurance won't cover the rental. I thought UM would cover that but I guess not. I think I will call the State Dept. because I'm just not getting clear answers from my insurance. Part of the problem was that the at fault driver thought he was insured, he had just taken out a new policy. So at first we thought his insurance was taking care of everything, but they just called last week and said he did have a policy, but the effective date was after the accident. So it may be that my insurance is waiting to get that denial letter before they consider it a UM claim, I don't know. I'll start making phone calls again tomorrow.
I really thought that with full coverage, I was covered for everything, but it isn't working out that way. If he'd been insured, I wouldn't have had any out of pocket costs. It is hard to understand, because I didn't cause the accident and I'm following the law by having insurance, yet it is causing me a big hardship. My insurance already told me that if he makes regular payments to them to pay back whatever they cover, he will be fine even if it is small payments. I wish I knew that I was going to be fine when this is all over!!
Thanks again.
Posted: Mon Oct 10, 2011 04:28 am Post Subject:
I really thought that with full coverage, I was covered for everything, but it isn't working out that way.
That is because "full coverage" does not exist. Take a look at your policy... you won't see this coverage.Is your UM UMBI? I'm guessing so (and that your collision coverage is addressing your car.
UMBI takes the place of the other person's injury coverage. Your carrier will act the same as if they were the other person's insurance company. That is, any payment they make toward your injury will be a 1 time, settlement payment. This usually does not happen until you know the extend of your treatment and bills. So they usually won't make an offer until you are close to or done treating. Also, you may need to let the adjuster know when this happens and/or make a demand yourself.
You can have your health carrier pay the bills in the meantime but they will probably want to be paid back from your settlement amount (I don't know if OK allows for double dipping). When you have a settlement amount with your carrier (before you accept it) contact your health carrier and see if you can negotiate a lower pay back amount.
Your demand to your carrier should be for all of your medical bills, all of your loss wages, and pain and suffering.
Posted: Mon Oct 10, 2011 06:04 pm Post Subject:
I don't have rental car replacement coverage included in my policy, so that is why my insurance won't cover the rental.
I thought rental car coverage was for a rental car in the event that you cause an accident. I've never had such coverage, and the two times my car was hit by someone else, I was given a rental car at no cost. One time the car had collision coverage and one time it did not. So like I said, I'm not sure why you are on the hook to pay for a rental if the accident was not your fault.
I think I will call the State Dept. because I'm just not getting clear answers from my insurance
That's a good idea.
So at first we thought his insurance was taking care of everything, but they just called last week and said he did have a policy, but the effective date was after the accident.
When my car was hit and I had collision coverage, I just paid the $500 deductible to get everything taken care of quicker/easier. It later turned out that the guy didn't have insurance even though they previously thought he did. So my insurance company mailed me a check for $500 since the uninsured motorist policy has no deductible. The cost of the rental car was not deducted.
If he'd been insured, I wouldn't have had any out of pocket costs.
That's not necessarily true. Many, many drivers are grossly under insured. As medical costs exceed their policy limits, you're put right back in the same position. Which is why uninsured/underinsured motorist is so important to have.
I don't know why your insurance company isn't doing more to help you. They sure don't sound like they appreciate your business as a customer. You have coverage against uninsured drivers, you were hit by an uninsured driver, so get your insurance company on this.
I wish I knew that I was going to be fine when this is all over!
Like I said before, depending on your uninsured motorist policy limits, you have other options available to you.
Good luck.
Posted: Mon Oct 10, 2011 06:25 pm Post Subject:
I've always been provided with a rental car too, but every other accident I was in the at fault party had liability, so their insurance provided the rental car. My insurance keeps saying that since the at fault driver doesn't have insurance, and I didn't pay extra for rental replacement on my policy, they won't pay for it.
I talked to State Farm this morning, and they have not gotten notified that the at fault driver wasn't covered, so they were not considering this a UM claim so far. The agent asked me to fax her any letter I get, and she had a UM agent call me. All he told me was to have my doctors bill my health insurance for my treatment, and that my health insurance may seek reimbursement from State Farm. That is completely opposite of what I was initially told, to have the doctor bill State Farm first.
Posted: Mon Oct 10, 2011 07:04 pm Post Subject:
If a police report was filed and no insurance is listed or if the other person was not able to show you valid insurance than its up to your carrier to show that the other person does have insurance otherwise they have to offer UM.
Companies like State Farm have seperate adjusters for everything. Proble? With this is that each person does not know how another coverage or a different portion of a claim is handled.
Posted: Tue Oct 11, 2011 06:10 am Post Subject:
That is completely opposite of what I was initially told, to have the doctor bill State Farm first.
There are advantages and disadvantages to each method. I would deal with the uninsured motorist person since he is most likely to know how it works. Ask him about the rental car costs. If you've already arranged for a rental yourself, then your insurance company may just plan on reimbursing you within the settlement. But if you don't know, ask. Also ask him how long they'll reimburse for a rental. I doubt it will be longer than two weeks, if that long.
Any time you don't understand what's going on, ask. And if it ever doesn't sound right, confirm with your state department of insurance.
Good luck.
Posted: Tue Oct 11, 2011 12:33 pm Post Subject:
Thanks for the responses. I've made a list of questions, and I'll try the UM guy first before I call the State. I want to know how Medpay works in a UM claim, if my doctors are billing my health insurance. Does the UM guy have anything to do with rental replacement, I thought that just handled the medical portion?
I'm going in circles trying to get concrete answers from my insurance, so I'm sure I'll just call the State today. I've played phone tag with the lady handling my medical claim for almost two weeks now, so I'm about to give up on her.
Thanks again for all the help, I've gotten more help here than from my insurance!
Posted: Tue Oct 11, 2011 09:02 pm Post Subject:
Well I still feel like I'm going in circles, lol. I called the State Insurance Dept and got some vague answers to my questions. I could tell he didn't want to give any specific answer, so he basically confirmed that everything was fine with the way my claim is going. It sounds like there are a couple different ways of doing things, because he just kept saying, "yes that is one way of handling it". He did say that the UM portion has nothing to do with rental car reimbursement, so I just have to let go of that I guess.
I finally talked to the medical claims adjuster on my claim, and she said that ideally I should have my dr bill the auto insurance. That is the opposite of what her coworker told me yesterday, and since I already told my providers to bill health insurance, I'm not going to call them back and change it. They will still work everything out. She also did not want to answer any questions concerning the UM claim, she would only address medical bills up to my $1000 coverage. That makes sense though.
I guess this is just going to be a drawn out ordeal, nothing will happen until I'm done with medical treatment, because UM doesn't pay anything until they are ready to make a settlement offer for all medical bills, lost wages, etc. If I understand what I've read on this board in other posts, I will have to make a demand before they'll do anything about a settlement. So now I just wait.
Thanks for all the help and advice, I really didn't know where to turn with this, and you guys have been very helpful.
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