Any medical bills you had would need to be paid before you received your share of a personal injury settlement. This might include medical liens created when doctors agree to accept delayed payment until after your injury claim is settled. It might involve reimbursing a health insurance company that has already covered your medical bills.

Paying Off Medical Liens with a Settlement Check

A personal injury accident can leave victims facing massive medical invoices over unfortunate circumstances they weren’t to blame for. Under California personal injury laws, victims can seek help with their recovery costs and support themselves from anyone found at fault for causing an accident.

Sometimes there’s a long period between when an emergency room bill comes due and when victims receive settlement money from an insurance company. It’s this gap that can leave victims struggling under a stack of bills and facing bankruptcy.

Victims might end up with delayed bills, but these expenses come due if and when a personal injury liability is worked out in settlement negotiations or in court.

Doctors Working Under a Medical Lien – Most victims cannot afford to pay their medical bills immediately after an accident. It’s especially true while they are too injured to go into work and earn a paycheck. To help, a Maison Law attorney helps you find a doctor who will work under something known as a Medical Lien. It means the doctor, medical group, or hospital agrees to give medical care for injuries related to an accident, but waits for payment until an expected injury settlement arrives.

Paying Health Insurers, Medicare, and Medicaid – Your health insurance or federal or state-sponsored medical coverage may cover your injury expenses. That doesn’t mean you don’t owe any money. An insurer will also work under a type of medical lien. Under a legal claim known as “subrogation,” an insurer seeks repayment for any coverage provided for hospital bills. The insurer may go after the insurer for those at fault for an accident directly, or take part of your settlement or court judgment to get reimbursed for medical invoices that have already been paid.

Bills Paid Out of Your Own Pocket – If you were able to pay some or all of your medical bills, this money should all be reimbursed through an accident settlement.  This can include surgeon fees, physical therapy costs, and even trauma counseling expenses after a frightening accident.

How Can a California Personal Injury Lawyer Help Me When Paying My Doctors and Insurers?

After a scary freeway accident or a fall at a local store, you will likely be physically, emotionally, and financially vulnerable. You can be trying to heal mentally and physically, while also being worried about growing medical debt. It’s a losing battle when you have to stress over how you’ll support yourself and your family while debt collectors constantly bother you.

An experienced California personal injury lawyer will be your safeguard as your settlement money is used to pay off certain liens and debts.

• Your lawyer will know which area doctors work with injured victims and will provide medical care without demanding immediate payment.
• Your lawyer can also negotiate on your behalf with lenders and insurers, in some cases reducing the medical debt you are responsible for. Letting you keep more of your settlement money.
• Your lawyer sees to the correct repayment of your loans and liens. This protects you from insurers, hospitals, and debtors coming to you months or years later, saying you owe them more.
• More money overall. Your lawyer’s negotiating skills often earn you much more for your case than you could get by handling this complex process yourself.
• Your lawyer makes sure a settlement covers all of your other bills that an accident has caused you to default on.

While you struggle to pay your hospital bills, you can also get behind on your normal monthly bills. You might have a difficult time keeping up with things like car payments, credit card bills, your rent or mortgage, and even power and water bills. Your lawyer ensures that any settlement includes the money for you to fully recover and also rebuild your future.

Contact a California Personal Injury Lawyer Today

If you are seriously hurt in a personal injury accident, meaning someone else caused your injury, you should discuss your case with a skilled California personal injury attorney.

Maison Law offers a free case review to all injured victims. It’s a no-risk way to find out what your injuries are worth and how to make sure all of your medical bills get paid. We also want you to walk away from this difficult chapter in your life with enough in support to ensure a great future.

There’s no obligation, but if you need our help to keep more of your settlement money, you won’t need to use any savings to hire us. Maison Law works on a contingency basis. It means we don’t get paid unless we win your case. Then our fee comes out of the settlement the insurer is forced to pay you.