Your car accident lawyer can help you find ways to delay payment while you wait on an injury settlement. Your health insurance could be called upon. The doctor could agree to wait until you receive an insurance check.
Maison Laws’ skilled California car accident lawyers offer a free consultation to all California accident victims. We help victims earn the most compensation possible. We also protect our clients from doctors and bill collectors when they can’t pay medical bills because they are waiting on a car insurance company to approve compensation.
Financial Concerns After a California Accident
A car accident can cause great physical harm, but a collision on a California freeway may also cause great financial damage to victims and their families.
Victims might be responsible for ambulance fees, emergency room invoices, and a bill for a week or more in the hospital. Then, patients may need expensive physical therapy sessions and even additional surgeries to make a full recovery.
Needless to say, victims who are out of work due to an injury may find they have no way to pay these enormous fees. Doctors, hospital administrators, and emergency responders may all expect immediate payment. At the same time, you may be waiting on an insurance settlement check that may or may not arrive soon.
In an accident, at-fault drivers should be fully liable for supporting victims through recovery, but their car insurance representatives can drag their feet and look for ways to avoid paying support that’s only fair. It’s often necessary to secure the help of a skilled California car accident lawyer to demand speedy action from an auto insurance company.
What Are My Options If I Can’t Pay Doctor Bills After an Accident?
You and your family members could be on the brink of bankruptcy due to medical bills that come due after a car accident. While you can’t work you may also fall far behind on normal monthly bills like rent, a mortgage, and credit card bills.
At this time, doctors and hospital billing departments will start demanding payment for their services. Without substantial savings already in place, you could have no real chance of making even a dent in these charges.
Fortunately, you do have options that a California car accident attorney can help you call upon. These are a few of the ways you can avoid a debt crisis until your settlement money is secured:
- Health Insurance – If you have health insurance, your coverage would pay for your medical bills and get debt collectors off your back. It’s important to know that health insurance companies will require reimbursement for these costs if a car insurance company accepts responsibility for what happened. The health insurer would seek this money from you once you received a settlement check from the car insurance company. You can find out more on our page about how health insurance can help car collision victims.
- Medical Liens – Another option for doctors and victims is a medical lien. Victims may ask medical care providers if they’ll work on a medical lien agreement. It means that doctors agree to wait on payment until victims receive their settlement checks from an auto insurance company. Doctors can also seek a medical lien on their own, making a legal claim for a portion of the victim’s insurance settlement once it arrives. It’s important to know what you are signing when entering a medical lien agreement. Let an experienced car accident lawyer go over the documents with you before signing. A skilled lawyer can also guide you to healthcare professionals who have agreed to medical lien agreements in the past in case your doctor won’t agree to it.
What If I Need To Pay My Doctor Bills But My Car Accident Injury Settlement Is Delayed?
In some cases, you may be left in a tough spot because the car insurance company for the at-fault driver refuses to accept full liability. It’s not uncommon for car insurance adjusters to look for ways to deny help to victims.
They might try to blame innocent victims for a crash while ignoring the findings of the California Highway Patrol. An auto insurance provider could also delay your claim, hoping you get desperate enough to accept any offer. They can extend a “lowball” settlement offer that doesn’t even cover half of your medical bills and other damages.
This is when you should speak to a California car accident lawyer to find out how to fight back. Your lawyer fully investigates what happened to prove your innocence and a car insurance company’s liability. Your lawyer would also contact the insurance provider and demand compensation as soon as possible.
Your lawyer would also monitor every settlement offer you received. If it didn’t fully cover your recovery, it would be rejected. Your lawyer would go to work demanding more.
Contact a California Car Accident Lawyer
It’s understandable when victims recovering from car accident injuries worry over the massive financial burden hospital bills cause. The driver who caused the accident should be 100% responsible for those expenses, but insurance companies can sometimes find ways to avoid blame.
If calls from debt collectors and doctor’s offices have you stressed, please contact a California car accident lawyer. Maison Law offers a free case consultation. We’ll go over what happened to you and then determine if you need the help of a skilled lawyer to get every medical bill paid for. We also want to earn enough so that victims and their families have enough compensation left over to complete a full financial recovery.
If you decide we can help you maximize your settlement after an accident, you won’t need any money to hire us. We don’t get paid unless we win your personal injury case for you. Then our fee comes out of the settlement you are awarded.
