Just a quick question... I was hit by a lady who had a tire blow out.  She flipped, slid through the median into oncoming traffic, then hit me.  It turns out her insurance will cover about the first 4 hours of my medical care.  I have private health insurance but apparently do not have 'uninsured motorist' coverage on my bike (although I do have it on my three other vehicles!).  The hospital is saying they will sue me for the amount not covered by her insurance.  Does this sound right?

And then you sue her.
Usually for significantly more than just the hospital bill.

Afraid of that... She was driving a 13 year old car with retread tires.  She probably has enough assets to pay for a bed pan and one Tylenol.  My ER bill is over $150k.  Can't wait to see what the surgery cost me.

Thanks for the reply!

Why would your insurance not pick up where hers left off?

Lots of people are under-insured. With insurance, you get only what you pay for.

I'm carrying $300k in insurance.  Add that to hers and the first three days (including surgery) is barely covered.  I'm facing 6 to 12 months of rehab along with those added expenses.

Funny thing... I've got well above normal insurance on my vehicles, a kick butt health insurance plan, and am covered by Tricare standard (mil retiree) yet I'm going to be stuck with hundreds of thousands of dollars in medical bills for an accident I did not cause.

Even in states that require insurance (like Virginia) if you have significant assets carrying the required minimum is a bad idea.

I'd imagine your health insurance will pick up where the auto coverage left off.

IMHO, these days anything less than a half million liability is NOT enough... it just simply won't cover the costs of a serious accident. Or even a non-serious accident.

Case in point: my childhood neighbor lost a wagon load of corn going down the road; hitch came unbolted from the frame or something like that. The wagon T-boned my cousin in his car. Not a serious accident by any means. But the impact right in the driver door of the car was enough to rupture my cousin's spleen. The lcoal hospital couldn't do the work so they rushed him by ambulance to a larger hospital a half hour away (by regular ambulance). So you have 2 ambulance rides and an emergency surgery to stop some internal bleeding. His medical expenses were well over $100k. No rehab, no major/comprehensive/multiple surgeries. The neighbor only had $100k liability (because he's a cheap-ass). He learned a very valuable lesson about what happens when expenses exceed your insurance policy...

Now turn that into a serious accident; expenses can soar. A single helicopter ride can cost nearly $100k in places. Months of rehab can cost into the hundreds of thousands...

Your health insurance should be paying your medical bills. Don't even screw around with her motor vehicle insurance coverage at this point. Just give the hospital your health insurance information. If you do sue her and win, your health insurance would be entitled to reimbursement from your recovery.

Hope you have a speedy recovery.

I hope so!  It just amazes me the amount I spend on different insurances to protect myself and yet I still end up paying for (or losing all my savings/assets to pay for) something that was not my fault.

Seems the person that hit me had the right idea... Don't bother with insurance coverage above legal minimums if you don't have assets.  From the lawyers I've talked, they won't even bother going after any of her 'assets' beyond what insurance she has.  Not enough return to be worth their effort.

I doubt they would sue unless a credit check reveals you have plenty.

I know folks with 6 figures worth of bills and nothing happens. The bigger problem is nobody will provide you medical services.

I Carry zero medical coverage on my vehicles.  Health insurance will pay. I do carry liability coverage for the other person.  

How much is that Benz you just hit worth?

How about a  Bentley's?

How do you pick what you are going to encounter in an accident?

Call a lawyer who specializes in crashes and ask them

 
I have Tricare, and that does sound like a fair idea.

In Virginia we passed a law that if you recover money at your cost the insurance company cannot make a claim.

Check with your health insurance, when I liven in CT they covered my accident, not the motorcycle policy.

Fucky thread.

Give the hospital your health insurance info.  They will cover the bills.  Should have done that in the beginning because that care was 'emergency' and any out of network providers would be paid usually without much of an argument.

Now that it is not emergent, you are gonna have to shop for in network providers (depending on your health plan obviously) and it is going to be difficult to sort out the billing.

On some plans, if it's not an emergency, and you visit an out of network provider, you can be balanced billed by the doc.

Any bills paid by your health carrier will most likely have to be paid back, out of any bodily injury award you receive... Assuming there is no dispute over fault.  They will send you or the at fault adjuster a notice of lien.


Who paid to fix your bike? Are you dealing with the other company's adjuster? What are the BI policy limits? If your bills are getting up there, you want to let that carrier know their insured is exposed.