What 's Med Pay And Do You Really Need It?

Those drivers living in "no-fault" states are required, by law to buy either Personal Injury Protection (PIP) or Medical Payments (Med Pay) coverage. PIP and Med Pay cover the medical bills of you and the passengers in your car after a crash that requires hospital treatment or where there were injuries, regardless of who's at fault. If you have Med Pay as part of your auto insurance, you will file a claim with the insurance company registered to your vehicle. Filing a claim requires several steps and needs to be recorded so all steps are covered and the people or person gets what they need. You would first have to pay for your treatment up front. Get a receipt from the doctor or hospital after the treatment is complete and send the receipt to the insurance company. Wait for your reimbursement check from the company and ask about how long to take to get there. If you use Med Pay to cover medical expenses, tell the doctor or hospital your auto insurance will pay for the treatment so you won't be billed directly. Also, have your insurance information handy in case the hospital or doctor needs it. If you have no such insurance you could end up paying out of pocket for any medical needs to you or others as result of an accident. It would be worth the extra money to have this than shell out thousands of dollars you might not have.

Med Pay is designed for immediate and short-term care and is used first as a form of payment for any accident. Once your Med Pay limits are exceeded, your health insurance then kicks in and covers the rest of the costs. As for your passengers, either their health insurance will kick in or your auto insurance will have to pay, which may increase your monthly premium. This is standard primary coverage for automobile accidents in no fault states. If you are in a state that doesn't have no fault insurance then Med Pay pays for medical expenses first from your auto insurance company. Once the Med Pay has been maximized out then you can resort to your medical benefits to cover the rest. Med Pay usually has no deductible and is useful to those who want to make sure medical pay is there in the case of an accident. It can take time to get the at fault driver's insurance company to pay, so having a back up is good. If you were the one at fault it is best to be able to get the other people or person treated and not have to pay out of pocket.

Med Pay will normally cover the necessary expenses for surgical, medical, dental, and possible chiropractic services. It also covers hospitalization, X-rays, nursing services, ambulance ride, prosthetic devices, and funeral services. In many situations, having Med Pay is a smart way of coverage. There are certain situations in which Med Pay can be valuable, such as when you are driving with someone who's not a family member. Med Pay covers everyone in the vehicle at the time of the accident, so your friends and others will have coverage, even if they don't have health insurance. Med Pay can help offset the deductible that comes with your auto or health insurance. If you have health insurance or belong to an HMO, you probably don't need Med Pay, but see what your policy will and won't cover. But it might be a nice buffer just in case your medical insurance gives you a hard time; you can never be too prepared. Also, Med Pay is no substitute for broader health insurance; few companies are willing to sell more than $25,000 worth of Med Pay coverage. Make sure you know about all the policies you have and pay for and what they cover and what they don't. This can be very useful later if you need it. There is nothing worse than getting into an unfortunate accident and having no clue what is covered and what isn't. Once the accident has occurred your insurance has lost money and will do anything to not pay, know your rights and what their job is to provide to you. When you are choosing insurance, it is always a wise idea to carefully check into the plan so you know what it will and will not cover. You will never know when you will need your policy, so you should be prepared.