If you were injured in a car accident or another type of personal injury incident, you may have accumulated medical bills for emergency medical treatment, diagnostic tests, hospital stays, surgeries, and other medical expenses. While you might be able to recover compensation for these losses as part of your insurance claim (as well as for anticipated future medical expenses), it could take months or longer before your case settles.
While your San Antonio accident claim is pending, you could be receiving medical bills for the treatment you received. If you don’t pay these bills or reach an arrangement with your medical providers, your debts could go to collections, which can damage your credit. Here are some options to consider to help manage medical bills while you are waiting for your settlement:
Use Your Insurance
First, you can turn to your insurance for assistance. All Texas car insurance policies come with personal injury protection (PIP) coverage that helps pay for medical bills unless you specifically denied this insurance in writing. If you have health insurance, you can use this insurance. However, your health insurance company may be entitled to reimbursement out of any eventual personal injury settlement you receive.
Negotiate a Better Rate
Medical offices are accustomed to adjusting rates to get paid by insurance companies, cash-paying customers, and other sources. You can ask for a better rate so that you can more easily pay the bill.
If your bill does not include details, ask for an itemized list. This will take some time for the billing department to produce and will also give you more specific details about how much you were charged for each aspect of your medical services.
Challenge the Bill
Once you receive your itemized bill, you can carefully scrutinize it to determine if there were any services or items you were charged for that you did not receive. Send a written notification to the hospital if you wish to dispute a portion of the bill.
Texas has several laws that may allow you to challenge your bill for other reasons. Title 6, Chapter 146 of the Texas Civil Code, hospitals must send you the bill before the first day of the eleventh month after treatment. If you did not receive the bill by this timeline, you can assert your rights under the law not to be billed or have the debt collected.
Texas law also limits surprise bills in emergencies. If you went to an in-network hospital but received bills from providers that were not in-network, you can ask to have these services removed, since you had no choice in which providers the hospital used.
Work Out a Payment Plan
To avoid having your medical debt go into collections, you can try to reach a payment arrangement with your healthcare provider. You have up to six months to settle your medical debt before it can be sent to a credit bureau. You may be able to enter into a payment agreement where you agree to pay a small amount of each medical bill until you receive your settlement.
If you were injured due to someone else’s negligence, you shouldn’t have to pay the consequences. An experienced San Antonio personal injury lawyer from our firm can explain your legal options and advise you of your rights. Call George Salinas Injury Lawyers today for a free, no-obligation consultation.