Med Pay Insurance

What is Med Insurance?

Medical Payments Coverage, or Med Pay for short, is optional car insurance in California that covers medical bills and funeral expenses regardless of who is at fault for the accident.

Med Pay insurance also provides coverage for people who are injured while walking on the street, or injured while riding in someone else's car, or injured while using public transportation (up to the policy limits).

California Med Pay Insurance

Medical payments coverage is called "Med Pay" in California, and it is an optional first-party insurance people can choose to add to their auto insurance. The policyholder or family members of the policyholder are covered for reasonable and necessary bills resulting from an automobile accident, regardless of fault.

There are numerous situations when Med Pay may apply, such as: you are injured in a truck accident while driving home from work; you are injured in an accident while driving an Uber vehicle; your motorcycle passenger suffers a head injury after a car accident; your child is killed in a bicycle accident; or your spouse is injured in a pedestrian accident.”

Advantages of Med Pay Insurance

Under Med Pay, the payments are made to the doctors or hospitals directly. In most cases, you do not have to pay the expenses out-of-pocket and submit them for reimbursement from Med Pay or wait while your insurer investigates the accident, even if you were at fault. Med Pay also has the advantages of not having co-pays or deductibles, and you can visit any provider you want. It also covers you and your family.

Expenses Covered

Up to the policy limits, MedPay covers (or reimburses) all reasonable and necessary medical bills and/or funeral expenses. These expenses include, without limitation: doctor's bills; hospital bills; ambulance and emergency medical transportation bills; chiropractic or acupuncture bills; physical therapy or occupational therapy; x-rays and MRIs; medical equipment (such as crutches); prosthetics; and dentist's bills to fix broken teeth.

Expenses Not Covered

Medical payments insurance in California does not cover: car repair bills, fence, gate, or gate repair costs, excess coverage, expenses that are not related to the accident, or accidents that do not involve a vehicle (for example, horseback riding accidents).

Med Pay Is For

MedPay insurance is especially useful for people without health insurance or with high deductibles or co-pays. Even those with good healthcare may wish to cover medical costs with MedPay. Health insurance is not required to cover passengers in the vehicle of the policy holder.

Contrary to most health plans, it does not limit the types of services or providers the injured person can use. In addition, Med Pay coverage is "per incident," not "per year." Consequently, there are no annual caps, as there are in many health insurance policies.

Making a Claim and Premiums

When an auto policyholder, who was not at fault, makes a claim, an insurer cannot increase rates. In the event that you were at fault, the insurer decides whether to raise your rates.

Using Med Pay Even With Insurance

Medi-Pay coverage is incident-based, so yearly or lifetime caps on payments are unaffected. Additionally, if your health insurance deductible has not been met or if you have high co-pays, Med Pay may be the better option. You may be tempted not to file a claim with your auto insurer if you were at fault for an accident and the other party wasn't injured or injured only slightly. In California, however, any accident involving injuries must be reported to the DMV (regardless of the severity). The same is true for most insurance policies.

Medical Liens

A California doctor or facility may accept a medical lien following an accident. As a result of a lien, the provider has the right to be paid from any judgment or settlement received by the insured from a third party. A medical lien is not accepted by all providers in place of insurance or cash. Furthermore, if the final disposition is not in the patient's favor, the person still has to pay the bills. Med Pay is generally preferred over medical liens in most cases.

Paying an Insurer Back

An insurer has a right to reimbursement under most Med Pay policies. Having this policy will prevent you from pocketing the money you recover for medical expenses from a third party instead of reimbursing your auto insurance provider. There are some exceptions to the Made Whole rule, which applies to most California Medical Payments coverage. To be exempt from having to repay the auto insurer, the insured must be "made whole" for any damages he or she suffered from the accident.

An experienced California injury lawyer can review your insurance policy and assist you with negotiating a settlement that leaves you with some left over for your out-of-pocket expenses and pain and suffering.

Policy Limits

Med Pay coverage with a policy limit of at least $1,000 is required by law for all insurers providing motor vehicle insurance in California. However, most insurers offer higher limits, such as $2000, $5,000, $10,000, and $25,000. State Farm, for instance, offers up to $100,000 of Med Pay coverage. Depending on your budget and the type of insurance you already have, you'll need to purchase a certain amount.

It's important to remember that accident-related medical bills can easily run into the tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars. When shopping for car insurance in California, it is wise to consider the available Med Pay policy limits and costs.