Should I Purchase MedPay?

In the State of Colorado, one of our consumer-friendly insurance laws requires car insurance companies to offer medical payments coverage to their customers. The insurance companies must offer medical payments coverage of at least $5,000. “Medical payments coverage” is commonly referred to as MedPay. Unfortunately, many drivers in Colorado do not know about MedPay. But purchasing MedPay as part of your policy is important. You should always elect to purchase MedPay when you purchase car insurance, and in most cases you want to purchase more than $5,000.00. If you want more information on car insurance coverage generally, click here. For more information on insurance claims made after a crash, click here.

What is MedPay? MedPay is a type of car insurance coverage that is used to pay medical bills. MedPay covers individuals who have been injured in a collision regardless of who is at fault. For example, if you have $5,000 in MedPay coverage, and someone talking on his cell phone rear ends you and causes you to have to see a doctor, that $5,000 would be used to cover the medical bills from those visits. The same would be true if YOU were the cause of the collision. Importantly, MedPay can only be used to pay for medical bills. It cannot be used to cover lost wages, pain and suffering, or physical impairment.

Why is MedPay so great? It can be utilized quickly, and it never has to be paid back. MedPay is designed to be accessed fast. If person hits you and causes you injuries, he (or his insurance company) is legally liable for your medical bills. But, in almost all cases, the at-fault insurance company will not pay you money more than once. So in most cases, you have to wait until you are completely done with your medical treatment and are back to normal (or as good as you can be) before settling with the at-fault driver. If it takes you a year to get better, you likely will not see any money from the at-fault driver’s insurance company for a year. In the meantime, how are you paying for medical bills? If you have health insurance, you may be okay. But if you don’t, or if your deductible is really high, you may be out of luck. MedPay doesn’t make you wait. This is money you can use to pay your doctors, physical therapists, chiropractors, and surgeons right away.

MedPay never has to be paid back. Let’s assume you are hit by a drunk driver, and you have $10,000 in medical bills. You are legally entitled to recover that $10,000 from the drunk driver. But if you paid the $10,000 out of your pocket while you were treating, then when you receive that money from the drunk driver you only will be back to even. If your health insurance paid the $10,000, it may be entitled to take all or a portion of the $10,000 it paid on your behalf, putting you back to even or only a little ahead. However, if MedPay paid the $10,000, you don’t have to pay any of it back. In this scenario, you would not only get your treatment paid for, but you would also have an extra $10,000 in your pocket after you settle your case.

MedPay is cheap. Compare the cost of adding $5,000, $10,000, or more in MedPay coverage to your current auto insurance policy. It is almost always cheaper than increasing other types of coverage. For only a few dollars more per month, you can ensure that you have at least some insurance coverage available to pay for injuries that occur in car collisions, regardless of whether you are at fault.

At Cheney Galluzzi & Howard, we help you set up a claim to access your MedPay coverage and we do NOT charge you for it. We don’t take a dime of our clients’ MedPay money. Its sole purpose is to help you get better quickly, without worrying about who is going to pay for treatment, and we are happy to assist our clients access their policies. If you or a loved one has been injured in a car crash, have them call one of the car crash lawyers at Cheney Galluzzi & Howard, LLC. Life happens. We can help.