Medical Bills/Treatment

One of the questions that injured Iowans often have is regarding what type of treatment is best for their condition.  Specifically, claimants often inquire regarding the respective benefits of physical therapy versus chiropractics.

First and foremost, it’s imperative to note that a legitimate injury attorney will not presume to know or determine what is best for an injured Iowa.

Only a qualified medical practitioner can recommend proper treatment for any given injury.

That said, both types of treatments – physical therapy and chiropractice treatment – can be beneficial depending on the injury.  When we say beneficial however, we mean beneficial for the auto accident victim in terms of their treatment and healing, not their claim.

In other words, the tail doesn’t wag the dog:  the injuries and treatment will dictate the course of a claim, not the other way around. 

Notwithstanding the foregoing, we see accident victims with personal injuries often benefiting from both.

Chiropractics generally include manipulation or adjusting of the joints and bones to relieve subluxations (an incomplete or partial dislocation of a bone in a joint) or other physical injuries or congenital problems. The theory is to help put the body in a condition to help it heal itself without the necessity of extrinsic medications or invasive procedures. Chiropractic care is helpful to injured Iowans in differing degrees but is often most helpful with soft tissue injuries or when other medical treatments have fallen short.

Physical therapy on the other hand focuses on improving flexibility, function and building strength as opposed to fixing subluxations or bone or joint problems. Physical therapy can also help with chronic issues as well. However, it is often most useful when used as a tool for rehabilitation following a significant injury or treatment such as surgery. Physical therapists also work in tandem with other medical professionals or a team of medical providers to ensure maximum recovery after a traumatic injury such as a spinal cord injury, paralysis, traumatic brain injury, or broken bone. However, doctors will utilize physical therapy for a vast number of injuries and as part of many different treatment and rehabilitation plans.

To decide which is right for you, once again, please consult your primary treating physician. Also, if you are being treated in one manner but you are not improving or even getting worse, ensure to inform you physician so that he or she can take that into account when continuing evaluate your progress and structure your treatment plan. No one treatment is right for every person or every injury and effective and aggressive treatment is the only way to ensure that you will be reach maximum recovery after as serious, or even not-so-serious automobile accident.

If you have been injured in a car accident, whether it is the result of someone else’s negligence, recklessness or disregard for you or your family’s safety, please take a moment to familiarize yourself with your rights, fault and no-fault insurance, teen or unlicensed drivers, and benefits available to you for medical care, surgery, periods of unemployment, medical leave, emergency room care and long term care or rehabilitation.

To begin with, if a person is injured in Iowa and has health insurance such as Blue Cross Blue Shield or United, the medical bills should typically just be turned into that company for payment. This is what health insurance is for and they are generally initially responsible for payment of the medical bills whether the injuries were caused by someone else or not. Once a health insurance company has paid however, if the injured person subsequently recovers from another party who caused the accident that led to the injury, that company will typically assert what is called a subrogation lien against the settlement or verdict. So for example, if Blue Cross paid $10,000 for medical bills and State Farm insured the driver who caused the crash, part of any settlement or verdict against the driver will be for that lien and will have to be paid back to Blue Cross Blue Shield. And this makes sense to, if someone caused the injuries, why should you or your insurance company be stuck with the bill?

You might ask, why doesn’t State Farm just pay the bills from the beginning? Wouldn’t that be nice? Well insurance companies aren’t in the business of being nice. Liability insurance carriers such as auto insurance companies will typically only remit payment one time for an injury claim that includes payment for everything i.e. medical bills, pain and suffering, lost wages, disability, scarring, a consortium claim, loss of full use of you mind and body, etc. They certainly can, but are not required by law to (and therefore typically will not) pay the medical bills as they are incurred. There are many reason for this.
To begin with, it is easier for the insurance company to just write one check than to keep track of paying 15 or 20 or more medical providers over the course of a long period of time that could be a year or more. But doesn’t this put a severe financial strain on an injured person? Absolutely but it is not the auto insurance company’s problem and they don’t care. Also and very importantly, it puts people under pressure to settle earlier and for less money, especially if they do not have insurance and the medical bill are quickly adding up. As we will talk a little more about below, if someone is getting bills for say $50,000 or $100,000, doesn’t have insurance and is getting threatened with collection actions or lawsuits, he or she oftentimes just takes any offer that the insurance company makes to get the bill collectors off of their back. This is exactly what an insurance company wants and a big reason why they don’t want you to have an accomplished claimant’s attorney on your side. The big insurance companies often save tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars in this fashion. The earlier an insurance company settles, the better it is for the insurance company because they can get out of payment for additional and future medical bills, ongoing and future pain an differing, ongoing future lost wages, and even payment for a disability if it is not yet know that an injury will be permanent. This is why if you have health insurance, it is typically best to just let it pay all the bills and then the responsible insurance company can pay them back when the time is right.

This is similar to if you have health insurance. It is general, if you are covered by Medicare or Medicaid, those programs with cover your medical bills even while an insurance claim or lawsuit is pending. Now, it needs to be noted that dealing with the government, especially the federal government, is an arduous process. That is what you are dealing with if Medicare or Medicaid is paying your bills. And while it is certainly beneficial to have your bills paid and not outstanding for a long period of time, having Medicare and Medicaid involved will slow down the claim and settlement process substantially. This is particularly true if you do not have a legal team on your side that knows how to deal with these programs and gets them to stay on top of a claim as much as possible. And it is extremely important that the government is paid back appropriately as if they are not properly accounted for, this can affect your eligibility for coverage and programs in the future.

For these reasons, if a family is financially well off or independent, there are some circumstances where it is at least worth considering paying your bills yourself instead of letting the government do it even if you are eligible if you know you have a meritorious claim and the payment. This can substantially speed up the settlement process in some sentences. But once again, a proper course of action can only be charted, especially when the injuries are severe with the proper legal team behind you.

If you don’t have any coverage, all is not lost!  While your medical bills are not likely to be paid during the course of treatment, there are steps that can be taken to protect you.  First, if an injured party can pay for the bills, it might make sense to do so as you will get reimbursed once the claim is resolved.  However for most folks, it is not feasible to simply scratch a check to cover thousands of dollars of doctor’s bills.  If this is the case, a number of things can be done to protect you. While every step that can be taken is beyond the scope of this discussion, the following things can be sometimes be effective to buy time while a claim is pending:

• Put a hold on an account if the hospital or provider allows and agrees
• Begin a payment plan
• Obtain a loan
• Consider lawsuit financing

All of these options can be explored n your behalf by the right legal team.  And every situation requires a different approach.  However, just rest assured that all is not lost if the bill are piling up and you have a good injury claim but don’t feel like you can wait for settlement. There is plan to deal with the medical bills that can help, you just have to find.

Lastly, it is also important to highlight that a experienced claimants attorney can also negotiate outstanding bills and liens on your behalf at the same time or after they are negotiate settlement with the responsible party.  You can saved thousand or more on what is paid to third parties if it is properly addressed.  This is another extremely valuable benefit of retaining the right attorney  as any savings obtained on your behalf  goes straight into your pocket.