What is Med Pay?
Medical Payments Coverage is a coverage you can pay
your medical bills with if you are involved in an accident. it is not
health insurance. Even if you have health insurance it is a good idea
to have medical payments as it will cover treatment to health care providers
that may be outside your HMO/PPO or other major medical plan.
Many times clients advise us that they have
“full coverage.” There is technically no such term
as full coverage. What people mean is that they have liability
insurance and possibly comp and collision to cover any damage
to their own vehicle. What is less likely is that they have med
pay coverage.
Whether a person has med pay coverage can be
quickly identified on their insurance verification form. It is
usually not like the other numbers in that it is fully listed
as the amount of coverage. For example, the liability insurance
may be listed as 10/20/10 and the UM/UMI coverage may be listed as
10/20. However, the Med Pay limits will be listed in their straight
amount, such as $1,000, $2,000, $5,000, $10,000, or something
of that nature.
Med
Pay coverage is a no-fault coverage, which means that nobody has
to be proved to be at fault to obtain the coverage. All that is
necessary is that the treatment is for injuries that are related
to the subject accident. The only other requirement is that the
treatment provided was reasonable and necessary and that the bills
charged are customary.
It is important to notify the med pay carrier immediately.
Failure to do so may result in the insurance company refusing
to pay later. Under Oklahoma law, a client’s insurance premium
cannot be raised if the accident was not their fault and alcohol
was not involved. The medical providers will direct bill your insurance companies
If there
is medical pay coverage left over, i.e. There is a medical pay
policy of $5,000 and only $3,000 in medical treatment was incurred
there would be a remaining balance of $2,000. The client may continue
to seek treatment for any continuing problems they may have related
to the subject accident, and the doctor providing that treatment
may directly bill the med pay carrier for up to one year. However, if all the medical payments
coverage is not used, then the client does not receiver the balance
left over. It is simply not used.
Another benefit of medical payments coverage
is that the amount stated is available for each person in the
vehicle. If there is $1,000 in medical payment coverage available
on a policy, there is $1,000 available for each person no matter
how many people are in the car. For example, if there were 10
people in a car, there would be a total of $10,000 worth of medical
payments coverage. However, each person may use no more than $1000.
Medical payments coverage can be very beneficial
and I encourage you to contact your insurance agent to discuss
its benefits.
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