When you think about an injury lawyer’s work, you probably imagine them in a courtroom, researching complicated legal issues, or reviewing medical records. However, at Crosley Law, we do much more than that. In addition to dealing with the insurance companies, we often try to reduce our clients’ medical bills by working with their providers.
In this article, we explain the important process of negotiating medical bills and how we’ve helped our clients.
How Do I Pay My Medical Bills After a Crash?
Medical treatment is essential after a serious car crash; it can help you identify potentially life-threatening injuries, reduce your healing time, and link your conditions to the incident. However, even if you have health insurance, you’ll need to pay your medical expenses.
Thankfully, you can include both your current and future medical bills in your personal injury claims. Your lawyer will help you compile all of your medical bills and estimate your future needs. Then, they will use these numbers during settlement negotiations and at trial, working to get you the compensation you deserve.
Many times, the doctors, hospitals, and even your healthcare insurance companies will file liens, legal documents that assert an interest in your personal injury claim. Before you settle or close your case, you’ll need to address these unpaid bills and settle up with your providers.
Insurance Might Not Fully Cover Your Medical Bills
In Texas, a negligent or at-fault party is typically responsible for their victims’ injuries and losses. Unfortunately, many people and businesses don’t have enough liability insurance to cover catastrophic or multi-party claims. Even worse, an estimated 14% of Texas do not have auto insurance, according to the Insurance Information Institute.
If you’re dealing with an uninsured or underinsured motorist, you will likely file additional claims with your own uninsured/underinsured motorist (UM/UIM) and personal injury protection (PIP) policies. However, if you only minimum coverage or opted out of PIP and UM/UIM, you may still have unpaid medical bills.
In these cases, your medical providers may be willing to accept a reduced amount to settle your unpaid bills. A lawyer can help you negotiate a fair amount.
How to Negotiate a Medical Bill
After they’ve reached a settlement or verdict on your case, a dedicated attorney will try to negotiate reductions in your medical bills. However, these negotiations don’t just involve asking politely. Using their in-depth medical and legal knowledge, an experienced attorney will:
- Contact your medical providers and insurance companies
- Review their billing statements, typically on HCFA-1500 and UB-04 forms
- Confirm that the bills are related to your crash and double-check the billing codes
- Work with Medicare and Medicaid to protect their interests, in compliance with state and federal law
- Negotiate, when possible, reductions in your medical bills
While most doctors and hospitals want full payment of their bills, that doesn’t mean that they’re unreasonable. A skilled injury lawyer may be able to negotiate a significant reduction in your medical bills on your behalf, using their unique perspective, experience, and knowledge of your case.
Crosley Law’s Negotiating Skills Helped Our Client Remain Debt-Free
One of our clients was riding his motorcycle when a driver failed to yield the right of way, resulting in a violent collision. He suffered a catastrophic traumatic brain injury and spent several weeks in a coma. Even after he awoke, our client faced a daunting recovery that involved intensive physical and occupational therapy.
However, in addition to coping with his substantial injuries, he soon faced another problem. Before the wreck, he’d lost his health insurance. Our client had several hundred thousand dollars in medical and hospital bills.
Unfortunately, the other driver’s auto insurance had a policy limit of only $30,000, nowhere near enough to even make a dent in our client’s medical debts.
“While most doctors and hospitals want full payment of their bills, that doesn’t mean that they’re unreasonable. A skilled injury lawyer may be able to negotiate a significant reduction in your medical bills on your behalf, using their unique perspective, experience, and knowledge of your case.”
Crosley Law went to work negotiating with the health care providers to see if there was any way to reduce the amount our client owed. After several months of negotiation, we were able to reach an agreement where the health care providers accepted a portion of the $30,000 auto insurance policy limit as full satisfaction of the outstanding medical bills.
The result? Our client emerged debt-free, received a portion of the auto insurance proceeds, and avoided having to file bankruptcy because of his medical bills.
Crosley Law Is Dedicated to Helping Our Clients Recover Financially and Emotionally
At Crosley Law, our job isn’t over when we close a case. Instead, we do our best to protect our clients’ futures by negotiating with health care providers to lower their medical bills. We also offer surprising extras. For example, we frequently work with a local organization that guides grieving families and provides them with meaningful support.
If you’ve been injured by someone else’s negligence and don’t know how you’re going to pay the bills, contact the attorneys at Crosley Law today. We’ll schedule a free consultation to sit down and discuss your case and options and how we can help you get the compensation you deserve.
Call us today at 210-LAW-3000 | 210-529-3000 or complete our online contact form to get started.
References
Facts + statistics: Uninsured motorists (2019, September). Insurance Information Institute. Retrieved from https://www.iii.org/fact-statistic/facts-statistics-uninsured-motorists
The content provided here is for informational purposes only and should not be construed as legal advice on any subject.
