Your medical bills, including your occupational therapy costs, should be covered by the driver who struck you.
Occupational therapy helps restore a patient’s physical and mental abilities so they can return to a normal life routine. But victims must often struggle to keep up with therapy bills when they are made to wait on settlement money.
A skilled lawyer can help speed up unhelpful car insurance companies. A lawyer can also help victims find doctors and therapists who will provide care while delaying billing until the victim receives compensation.
Occupational Therapy After a Bakersfield Collision
With the lack of care that some Bakersfield drivers show each day, serious car accidents are common occurrences. A speeding truck driver may lose control on Route 178 and slam into another vehicle. A distracted driver on White Lane might fail to stop at a red light and ram a vehicle from behind.
If you are in the vehicle that’s struck, you can suffer broken bones, whiplash, back injuries, and tissue tears. A trip to the ER and to the operating room may just be the first part of recovery. Lengthy time with physical therapists and occupational therapists may be the next important step to a full recovery.
According to the Mayo Clinic, an Occupational Therapist…“works with patients who have conditions that are mentally, physically, developmentally, or emotionally disabling. They help these patients develop, recover, or maintain the skills needed for daily living and working.”
For car accident victims, an Occupational Therapist works towards these goals and others:
- Preparing a plan for recovery.
- Helping victims relearn basic daily skills like bathing and grooming.
- Helping victims care for their families (e.g., preparing meals, taking care of children)
- Helping victims with mobility (e.g., driving, walking)
- Preparing victims to use medical equipment and take advantage of home renovations to help restore their freedom.
- Preparing victims to transition back into their work roles.
- Helping Traumatic Brain Injury patients rebuild their memory skills and how to manage their time.
You should definitely be compensated for the cost of each session and the pain and frustration you suffer in recovery. But car insurance companies can try to shift blame in accidents, or cast doubt on how serious an injury is, simply to save money.
A Bakersfield Car Accident Lawyer fully investigates your accident and uses the evidence to force insurers to accept fault and pay you.
When a Car Insurance Company Delays Your Settlement
Car accident companies really put injured victims in a bind when they delay their responses to claims and withhold support. This shady behavior leaves victims with medical bills coming due while they may have been unable to work for weeks or months.
But victims can take action to help them through this difficult period of waiting.
Medical Liens: Patients can enter into legal agreements with doctors and occupational therapists where medical professionals agree to put off billing until car accident victims receive their settlements. An experienced lawyer can direct patients to therapists who are known to work under this arrangement to help accident victims out.
Speeding Up Insurance Response: Lawyers know when insurance adjusters are purposely delaying a response to an injured victim’s claim. They do this hoping the victim becomes desperate and is more likely to accept any “lowball” settlement offer. A lawyer can call out insurers and even report them to the state when they delay for no reason. A lawyer also checks over each offer to see if it’s enough. They can reject claims and demand more.
Health Insurance Reimbursement: Victims should be forewarned that any occupational therapy bills that are paid for by their health insurance provider will likely need to be paid back. Through a process known as subrogation, health insurance providers seek reimbursement from either the victim or directly from the car insurance company.
What Should the Auto Insurance Company Cover?
A lawyer files a claim on your behalf, so you can focus on healing and avoid a frustrating negotiation process.
When filing, a lawyer includes a full list of every hardship you have been put through and those costs of therapy that may be in the future. The demands must include support for all medical bills. The income you lost while out of work with an injury must be replaced.
And when occupational therapy is involved, additional damages are factored in:
- The pain that’s endured during a long recovery and during the struggle through completing occupational therapy sessions.
- The emotional challenges that come with a difficult and discouraging recovery.
- The costs of equipment patients may need to purchase for the short-term or long-term.
- Reimbursement for the travel costs to attend multiple occupational therapy sessions and to see out-of-area specialists.
- The lost income while victims must take time off work for therapy appointments.
Contact a Bakersfield Car Accident Attorney
Maison Law offers free case reviews to all injured car accident victims and their families. We’ll help you determine the best path to getting the most out of your injury claim so you can pay for occupational therapy and restore your life back to normal.
If we can’t help you earn more, we’ll tell you that. We’ll also point you in the right direction for winning your case by filing it yourself. But when you come away from a collision with a serious injury, a lawyer is often able to earn you much more than you could earn by handling a claim yourself.
And if you need a lawyer, you don’t have to stress about having the money to hire one. We work on behalf of clients with no upfront costs. We are only paid if your case is won. Then our fee comes out of a settlement check the car insurance company must write.
