My hospital bill is more than $10,000. Both my medical and car insurance don't want to pay. What can I do?

Question

I had a car accident and totaled both my car and the person's car that I hit. I was lucky that my car insurance gave me a check for $26,000 for my car. But now Im stuck with this huge $10,000 hospital bill. The other person's insurance company is sueing me for $15,000 now. Im 23yrs old what can I do?

Answer 1

Contact a lawyer.  Also, they should be sueing your insurance company, not you personally.  Contact your agent.  But get a lawyer first.

Answer 2

use the $26000 to pay the hospital bill and get yourself a cheap used car.  you can't afford anything better.  you can sue, but it really depends on what sort of coverage you were paying for through your insurance.  your insurance company may have paid you within the terms of your policy. i'd be looking for some extra jobs

Answer 3

First, did you purchase medical payments or PIP on your auto policy or did you buy the minimum you could?  If you did not or bought very little, you have to get a letter from your auto insurance company stating you do not have medical on your auto or that your limits are exceeded.  Send this letter to your health insurance.  Most health insurance is secondary to the auto insurance & they need proof from the auto insurance that they are not paying & why.  You will have a deductible & copayments on your health insurance so be prepared to pay those.

The other person's insurance company will subrogate against your company for the property damage you caused.  If your purchased only the minimum property damage liability (as low as $5,000 in some states, $10,000 in others) and their damages exceeded your limits, you will personally be responsible for the difference.  So, if you purchased the $5,000 property damage & you caused $20,000 in property damage, you will be responsible for the difference.  Your company will only defend & pay up to your liability limits on your policy.  You probably got a letter that the other company is seeking more than your property damage limit.  You will owe this amount to the other insurance company.  Call your company & check with them.  If this is the case, contact the other insurance company & see if you can set up a payment plan to pay this amount back.  If you have a lien or judgement against you, you will need to set up the payment plan & stick to the payments.  Now, if you totalled both vehicles, it is very possible there are injuries.  I don't want to scare you but hopefully the injuries if any were very minor & your bodily injury limits won't be exceeded.  If they are, you would owe this too.

Now, go directly to your insurance agent & RAISE your limits to as high as you can afford.  You do NOT want to go around underinsured anymore.  Also, just so you are aware, if you were hit by an uninsured motorist, your uninsured motorist limits probably wouldn't get you very far if you were injured.  RAISE this limit to the same as your liability limit & be sure you purchase underinsured motorist coverage & uninsured motorist property damage if available.

This is a very expensive lesson in insurance & why you need to have adequate limits.

Good luck to you.

Answer 4

Does your state require your policy to have med-pay? If so, you are entitled to some $ for medical, and it doesn't matter whose fault the accident was. If you think you have a claim against your insurer, you can file a claim with your state insurance department. There is also a way to contest the insurer's response. Call the claims department and tell them you want to do that-they will tell you how to go about it. It MUST be in writing.But, read your policy first. It doesn't sound like you are familiar with its terms. Call your agent for explanations if you don't understand the terms.

Many people prefer low premiums to adequate coverage. Then, when something happens, it is too late. You need to make changes to your current policy to adequately protect you in the future. When insurers subrogate, your insurer is supposed to negotiate on your behalf.

As far as the other insurance company going after you for additional money, there is not enough information. Why isn't your insurer defending you, or settling? Are you sure you have a good grasp of the situation and your coverage? You need to be pro-active now and learn everything you can about what kind of coverage you bought. If you bought the minimum required by your state, you may be paying off these bills for years to come.

As far as your health insurance is concerned, you have the same recourse to dispute their decision not to pay. You can  request a review of their decision. You must do that quickly, and in writing. And, you can report them to the state insurance department as well.

You do need a lawyer...Good luck to you.

Answer 5

also, do whatever you can in life to get rid of the for profit insurance industry.  Single payer non profit health care is what you and the rest of this country needs.. current health insurance companys exist to deny benefits and access.  Their FOR PROFIT goals are all conflict of interest with the actual health and lives of americans.  They are leeches on the backs of all americans driving up the costs of healthcare.. They are also responsable for illnesses not being treated on onset.. but rather only later when they are much much more serious and expensive to treat.  Shows how hijacked our media is.. when a country such as this lags the rest of the world (ranked 32, i think) in health care.  (yet we are by far the most expensive)  Before the courts became collection agencys for the credit cards, your accident probably would have let you walk from the debts in bankrupcy.   Now i dont know.. contact a lawyer is unfortunatly your best option.  I hate refering people to lawyers tho.. bottom feeding ****.

Answer 6

Why won't your medical insurance pay?  Seems to me that they should be primary payer for your medical costs.  Then if they want to pursue subrogation (recovery) against your auto insurance or the other party, that is their option.

Answer 7

If you were at fault for the accident-- then your liability will not pay for your medical bills (you can't be liable to yourself).  However, your liability will pay for the other person's property damage and medical bills up to your policy limit.

If a law suit has been filed by the other person -- it has to be filed against you as the at fault party. You don't sue the insurance company (they did not cause the injury) you sue the person who was negligent...that's you.

So, what do you do?

Well, you contact your insurance company immediately!

Your auto policy says that your insurance company will hire a lawyer to defend you. Once they pay out the policy limit -- their duty to defend ends...but until they pay the full limit - they hire a lawyer to defend you and they pay his bill.

So - call your insurance company now.

Your company will need to know when you got served the suit papers and how (process server or certified mail). They will need you to forward the papers to them and they will get in touch with a lawyer.  The lawyer is hired to represent you and your interest. The insurance company just picks up the bill.

Now, you will be expected to cooperate fully with the insurance company in defense of the lawsuit.

If you did not get a lawsuit - just a letter from a lawyer representing the other person  threatening to sue--call your adjuster and forward the letter onto them. They will take over from their.

As far as your medical bills go- the only coverage under your auto policy that would pay for your bills would be Personal Injury Protection (PIP) or Medical Payments coverage.  

If you do not have either of these coverages on your policy or you have them and they have paid out but you still owe money on your medical bills--- all you have to do is have your insurance adjuster write you a letter saying that either you do not have coverage under your auto policy to pay the bill or that your coverage is exhausted. Usually, once you forward this letter to your health insurance company, they will then pick up the bills.  

The health insurance company just needs proof that there is either no coverage or coverage is exhausted before they kick in.

You really should call the adjuster assigned to handle your claim. They know more about your situation than I do. They will be better able to advise you.  However, the information I have provided is pretty basic and should give you a place to start. Keep in mind, I don't know everything -- just the tiny bit of information that you have provided. So there could be something you have not told me that could change my answer. Also-- this is not legal advice. Only a lawyer can give legal advice.