How are medical bills paid after a car accident in Kentucky?

After being injured in a car accident in Kentucky, car accident victims soon come to realize that medical bills and other expenses can quickly accumulate, causing financial strain and uncertainty about how to cover essential costs. Due to no fault of their own, many car accident survivors are put into hardship, unable to work, and often struggle to understand how to pay mounting bills.

An experienced Kentucky personal injury lawyer can help you through this difficult time in a number of ways to lessen your burden. There are also some immediate steps that you can take to protect yourself financially. Understanding your options will be the first step to putting yourself in the best financial situation possible after a wreck.

If you’ve been injured in an auto accident, contact our firm today. Our legal team is available 24/7 to help and we offer free consultations so that you can understand your options.

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Resources available in Kentucky to help with medical bills and other expenses after being injured in a crash

Kentucky provides a number of ways to assist car accident victims with their expenses after being injured in a crash. These resources can help if you find yourself facing mounting medical bills, if you’re unable to work, or if you need to cover other expenses after the accident due to the injuries you’ve suffered.

Some of these resources can include:

• Your own insurance company and your personal injury protection (PIP) coverage
• Uninsured (UM) or Underinsured (UIM) motorist coverage
• The other driver’s insurance, up to their policy limits
• Your health insurance company
• Workers’ Compensation if you were injured while working
• Disability benefits through private disability insurance or through Social Security Disability Benefits (SSDI)

Depending on your situation, you may be eligible to receive help from multiple resources. Let’s discuss each of these in more detail.

Kentucky law and insurance coverage

In Kentucky, there is a priority order for which insurance policy bears primary responsibility, and there are limitations on how much each can help you with medical bills and other expenses. Some options may also require that you meet certain thresholds to be compensated. Additionally, some are mandatory in Kentucky, others are optional, and others require you to meet specific criteria to qualify for. It can all become a little confusing, but let’s simplify these as much as possible.

Your own insurance company can help cover your immediate medical bills

In Kentucky, auto insurance policies are required to include a minimum of $10,000 in Personal Injury Protection (PIP) coverage (unless you’ve opted out). This means that if you’re injured in a car accident, you’ll have access to $10,000 from your own insurance policy to help cover medical expenses, lost wages, and other injury-related costs. Kentucky is a “no-fault” state, which means that regardless of who was at fault in the accident, PIP coverage is available to policyholders.

Because of this no-fault system, your own insurance company will handle your expenses initially, up to the $10,000 limit, regardless of who caused the accident. This ensures that you have immediate access to funds for your medical bills and other costs related to the accident.

However, it’s important to note that the $10,000 PIP coverage limit may not fully cover all of your expenses, especially if your car accident injury is severe, or if you have significant medical bills or lost wages.

How Uninsured (UM) or Underinsured (UIM) motorist coverage can help with your medical bills

In Kentucky, additional options are available to protect you financially if the other driver doesn’t have insurance or lacks the insurance necessary to cover your injuries and expenses. These options include Uninsured (UM) insurance, which helps protect you against drivers that don’t have insurance, and Underinsured motorist coverage (UIM), which helps protect you if the at-fault driver doesn’t have enough insurance to cover your injuries.

Both UM and UIM coverage can be purchased from your insurance provider in addition to personal injury protection, but are not mandatory in Kentucky.

If you’re involved in a wreck caused by an uninsured driver and don’t have UM/UIM coverage at the time of the collision, you won’t be able to add that coverage on later to protect yourself from expenses incurred due to the accident.

The at-fault driver’s insurance provider can pay your medical bills and other expenses

Kentucky drivers who have been seriously injured in a car crash will soon begin to realize as the medical bills start rolling in that $10,000 from PIP doesn’t go too far. Health care providers are very expensive, and depending on the severity of the injuries, medical bills after a car accident can become increasingly burdensome, especially when coupled with other expenses such as physical therapy, lost wages, and vehicle repairs.

In Kentucky, if another driver is found to be at fault for the accident, you may be able to seek compensation from their insurance company to help pay for medical bills and other expenses resulting from the accident. This doesn’t mean that you should contact the at-fault party’s insurance provider. In fact, they may use your unfortunate situation to pressure you into a settlement that is not in your best interest.

At this stage, it is always best to consult with an attorney if you haven’t already, as they will have experience negotiating a fair settlement for your injuries. For example, a Louisville car accident lawyer can help prove fault, and what percentage of fault in the accident you or the other driver had. Kentucky follows a Pure Comparative Fault system, which means that in Kentucky, even if you are found to be partially at fault for the accident, you can still recover damages from other at-fault parties. However, your total compensation will be reduced by your percentage of fault. An experienced attorney knows how to prove fault after a car accident and can help you obtain the most money possible in a settlement.

Although hiring a personal injury attorney to handle personal injury settlement negotiations is the best possible step you can take to recover the money you deserve, this may take some time depending on a number of factors.

Additional reading: How long does a car accident settlement take?

Experienced personal injury attorneys can help seek maximum compensation for medical bills and other medical costs after a car accident, lost wages, property damage and pain and suffering. Let a skilled attorney handle the negotiations so that you can focus on getting better.

Thresholds that need to be met in order to file a personal injury claim

In order to file a personal injury claim in Kentucky, an accident victim must meet certain criteria:

• $1,000 in medical costs
• A broken bone
• Permanent injury or disfigurement
• Death (this includes bringing a wrongful death claim on behalf of a victim who has died as a result of the accident)

If any one of these is met or exceeded, you can file a claim against the at-fault party. The same is true for a passenger who was injured in a car accident in Kentucky.

Does your health insurance cover you after a car accident in Kentucky?

You can use your health insurance to help get your medical bills paid after a car accident in Kentucky. This coverage can help supplement PIP benefits and cover costs that exceed PIP limits, as well as expenses such as hospital stays, surgeries, and specialist treatments.

If you have both health insurance and PIP coverage, your health insurance provider may coordinate benefits with your auto insurance company. This means that your health insurance may pay for medical expenses not covered by PIP, and vice versa.

Even with health insurance coverage, you may still be responsible for out-of-pocket costs such as deductibles, copayments, and coinsurance. These costs can vary depending on your policy’s terms and your specific healthcare needs.

When looking to your own health insurance provider, it’s also important to understand that if you receive compensation from a liability claim or lawsuit for your medical expenses, your health insurance company may seek reimbursement for any payments they made through a process called a subrogation claim. This allows the insurer to recover its losses if you receive compensation from another source for your medical treatment.

If you were injured at work, you may be eligible for workers’ compensation benefits

In Kentucky, if you are eligible for workers’ compensation due to a work-related car accident, several expenses may be covered. These include medical expenses such as hospital visits, surgeries, doctor’s appointments, prescription medications, and physical therapy. Additionally, workers’ compensation may provide wage replacement benefits if injuries prevent you from working, covering a portion of lost wages.

Generally, workers’ compensation income benefits are 66 2/3% of your average weekly salary, up to the state maximum.

Disability benefits are available for temporary or permanent disabilities affecting work capacity, and vocational rehabilitation services may assist in returning to work or finding alternative employment. Travel expenses related to medical treatment, like mileage reimbursement, may also be covered. It’s important to report the accident to the employer promptly and seek guidance from a workers’ compensation lawyer to understand eligibility and navigate the process effectively.

Disability benefits can also help lessen the financial burden after a car accident in Kentucky

Disability benefits, whether through private disability insurance or Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI), provide essential financial assistance to car accident victims in Kentucky who are unable to work due to their injuries, however there is specific criteria that needs to be met in order to receive these benefits, and there is a waiting period.

You may quality for SSDI benefits after a personal injury if you meet Social Security Administration’s definition of “disability” as follows:

You must not be able to engage in any substantial gainful activity (SGA) because of a medically determinable physical or mental impairment(s) that is either:

• Expected to result in death.
• Has lasted or is expected to last for a continuous period of at least 12 months.

If you meet the SSA’s definition of “disability”, there will be additional criteria that you must prove in order to receive benefits. These include:

• You must have worked at a job that’s covered by Social Security
• You are unable to work as you did before the accident
• You have paid enough Social Security taxes to earn adequate work credits
• You are unable to properly carry out other work-related tasks because of the injury
• Your disability has become or will likely become terminal

SSDI payments can begin after a five month waiting period. On the sixth month, if you are deemed to be eligible, you will begin receiving payments.

It’s worth mentioning that receiving a settlement in a personal injury case will not affect your SSDI benefits. You won’t need to take any extra steps to keep receiving your full monthly SSDI payments simply because you’ve received a personal injury settlement. In other words, Disability benefits will remain in effect until you either return to work or the Social Security Administration determines that you are no longer disabled.

Although SSDI is available, the application process can be difficult, and if not handled properly, could result in your application being denied. It’s recommended to have an experience Social Security Disability lawyer handle the application process on your behalf. This way, you can ensure that you receive all of the benefits that you’re entitled to.

If you’ve been injured in a car accident in Kentucky and need help paying your bills, contact us today for a free consultation

As you can see, there are a lot of options available to you, but insurance providers and medical providers can be difficult to deal with. When you work with our firm, we can help address your financial situation so that you can focus on getting better. We will take on all communications with the insurance providers and can help you get the medical care you need.

Hughes & Coleman Injury Lawyers are here to support you. We have offices throughout Kentucky, including Louisville, Lexington, Bowling Green, and Elizabethtown.

Call us today so that we can talk about your options

800-800-4600

Get it done.