If you or someone you care about has been injured by the actions of another individual or entity in Colorado, you deserve compensation for your losses. However, it is crucial for you to seek medical treatment for your injuries immediately after an incident occurs.
But who will pay for these medical bills before a settlement comes through? After all, it can take months or even years for an injury claim to settle.
Here, we want to discuss how your medical bills can get paid before your injury claim is settled.
Paying Your Emergency Medical Bills
Right after an injury occurs, the number one priority must be seeking medical care. This may include taking an ambulance to the hospital or having someone take you to an emergency clinic for treatment.
Seeking emergency medical care accomplishes two goals. First, this ensures that you receive prompt treatment for any visible or unseen injuries. Second, this helps establish a solid link between your injuries and the incident, which is something the insurance carriers are going to look for.
However, there is absolutely no way that an insurance carrier is going to pay these emergency medical expenses right away. These claims take time. Unfortunately, this means that you will be on the line for any medical bills that come in, but that does not necessarily mean you have to pay them right then and there. There will be some lag between when your emergency care takes place in when the bills come in. Ultimately, the hope is that a settlement will come forward before these bills come due.
That, however, is not always what happens.
Paying for Ongoing Medical Expenses
In the event you sustain anything more than a minor injury, you will likely need follow-up medical treatment. This can include additional doctor visits, physical therapy or rehabilitation, medical devices, ongoing prescription medication, and more. This may even include various surgeries needed to fully treat your injury.
At this point, your emergency medical bills and these ongoing medical expenses will have caught up, and doctors will want payment. There are a few options at this point, and you most certainly do not want to be sent to collections. Payment for these bills could come from your personal health insurance provider or out of your own bank account.
Another route could include you and your attorney contacting the medical provider and asking them to continue your medical care with the understanding that they will receive compensation from any eventual settlement or jury verdict that comes in as a result of your claim against the other party. If a doctor or medical agency agrees to this, it is very likely that they will place what is called a “medical lien” on your eventual settlement or jury verdict, which means they will have the right to payment just like you and your attorney.
Additionally, if your insurance carrier did pay some of the medical bills on your behalf, they will likely have the right to recover payment from any eventual settlement or jury verdict through what is called subrogation.
Contact an Attorney for Help
If you have been injured as a result of the actions of another party in Colorado, we encourage you to reach out to an injury attorney as soon as possible. Determining who pays for your medical bills before an injury settlement or verdict comes in can be challenging, but your attorney can walk you through this process.