Q: WHO TAKES CARE OF MY MEDICAL BILLS?

A: Unfortunately the other driver’s insurance company will not pay your bills as you incur them. The other insurance company won’t write any checks until you are ready to sign off on your claim. There are different options available that the lawyers at Arthur Law Firm will discuss with you.

Q: WHEN WILL MY MEDICAL BILLS BE PAID?

A: Your medical bills will be addressed as they are incurred. If your own medical insurance is used to pay these bills, your medical insurance company will work with your lawyer to be reimbursed out of your settlement. This process is called subrogation, and the lawyers at Arthur Law Firm have extensive experience in this process.

Q: DOES IT MAKE SENSE TO HURRY UP AND SETTLE, SO THE OTHER INSURANCE COMPANY WILL TAKE CARE OF MY MEDICAL BILLS?

A: Sometimes the other insurance company will promise to pay your medical bills if you hurry up and settle your claim, but that is NEVER a good idea. If you sign off on your claim, and you find out later that you are more seriously injured than you first realized, you will not be able to seek compensation for those previously unknown injuries. For instance, you may think your sore neck is the result of a condition commonly referred to as whiplash – that’s when the muscles and ligaments in your neck get stretched. There are varying degrees of whiplash – depending on the person, the circumstances of the crash, and several other factors. Some doctors like to say whiplash typically heals in four to six weeks. But from the cases we’ve seen, it’s never quite that simple. We’ve seen some clients with symptoms of whiplash that extend for a year or more; and some who are never fully the same after a whiplash injury. Another much more serious condition could be disguised as whiplash, and that’s a disc injury. Disc injuries can only be diagnosed using expensive tests, such as magnetic resonance imaging. Since these tests are so expensive, they are only ordered after symptoms persist and linger for several weeks or months. If you sign off on the claim too quickly in the hopes of taking care of those initial medical bills, you may get a lot more bills later that you may have a real hard time getting paid at all. And on top of that, a serious whiplash injury or a disc injury may go totally uncompensated.