Sources of coverage is a fancy way of saying where the money comes from when you are in a car accident. But where does the settlement or verdict money come from? Who pays it? Where am I getting money from? These are common questions and let's see if we can shine some light on the subject.
So let's try to break it down a little bit. It can be a bit complex but we will try to explain it in plain English.
Medical Bills: medical bills should be initially paid by health insurance. The reason for this is that you pay for health insurance you should get the benefit of it. Additionally, in Virginia there is no right to reimbursement by a health insurance provider. If it is a federally funded policy that is a different story. So if you pay premiums, the bills are discounted and you do not have to pay the insurance company why wouldn't you use it?
Medpay Coverage: medpay or medical expense benefits coverage that is through, usually, your automobile insurance carrier. If you don't have insurance and were not the driver don't worry, that's when we look to the driver's insurance. This is another policy that can be optionally carried and provide up to several thousand dollars of help with medical bills. Whether it is for copay or just additional monies, this is money that you are entitled to by law. The bonus is that your insurance cannot go up because this was used (we will tackle this in another post).
Liability Coverage: this is the insurance most people think of when talking about personal injury or accident settlements. These are the funds that come from the insurance company of the person that caused the injuries. This is where medical bills, lost wages, prescriptions, and pain and suffering comes from for an injured party.
Uninsured/Underinsured Motorist Coverage:this is the last place that we look for monies for injured persons. In a nutshell, if there is no liability insurance (it happens) or not enough insurance, then hopefully there is coverage under this section. I say hopefully because it can get complicated, there might not be enough, or even how do you allocate the amount that is there for multiple injured persons.
So that's it in a nutshell. There is clearly more to talk about when discussing settlements or monies for those injured in a car accident. Knowing these is what can be the difference between a good settlement or a bad one. This is also where experience matters. Finally, it is another reason that you may want to consider hiring an attorney for your car accident rather than do it yourself which we talk about in our post about needing an accident lawyer in Chesapeake.
Give us a call at 757-454-2110 or click here to contact us for a free consultation about your injury or accident case. And as always - there are no attorney's fees until we win!!!
/s/ Brian
Here are some related posts or posts that you may find interesting: