<p>My family’s never been in this position before so any help will be greatly appreciated. </p>
<p>I was in a car accident about 2 months ago, major according to the insurance, although everyone was able to walk away. It involved 3 cars, not my fault, and it has been frustrating dealing with insurance. I’ve retained a lawyer so I am hoping that at least the car part will be settle soon as I paid for my car repairs out of pocket with fin aid money.</p>
<p>How long do settlements normally take? I know medical won’t happen until all of my doctors say I am back to the health state I was in before the accident. Should I even be thinking of transferring out to a OOS university? I was hoping to transfer out by next fall if I’m accepted. </p>
<p>Also more of a medical question: I was seeing a massage therapist at a clinic that specifically stated it would work with insurance, car insurance, or if needed it would wait until a settlement was reached to pay my bill. After the 3rd appointment the therapist said insurance was still not resolved. After calling to cancel my next app because I had no money due to paying for car repairs, I found out by the worker who deals with insurance that my file has never been submitted as a auto accident patient. I’m very angry about this, and feel betrayed by my therapist. I can see her point as a relative is a massage therapist, but when your clinic is advertising on-line to work with insurances, or personal injury claims you should honor it. Do I need to see this same therapist, or can I request a new therapist at this clinic? Originally, my lawyer said it get’s messy when multiple professions get involved, but if you don’t do something your primary care recommends defense lawyer will throw it in your face. When I explained the situation to him recently he told me to discuss this with my chiropractor, who does have a massage therapist employed (cash only payments). I’ve never discussed this with him as it was my primary care who told me it would help. Any ideas?</p>
<p>Not sure why you have paid anything out of pocket (other than your deductible) if you have insurance and coverage for what happened.</p>
<p>Normally, your insurance company takes care of YOU and then goes after the at-fault party to get paid. All you have to cover is the deductible which, if the at-fault party is deemed to be 100% at fault, you should get that back eventually.</p>
<p>If you retained a lawyer, understand that you won’t get back everything you have paid out. Your lawyer will take a good chunk of that as his fee.</p>
<p>I would be on the phone with my insurance company getting it taken care of. That’s why you pay a premium every month.</p>
<p>There’s something odd here - in the two accidents I was in where I wasn’t at fault, the insurance adjuster from the at-fault person’s car was all over me trying to close it. Immediately after I indicated my car was in a body shop, he gave me the contact to get a rental car. After my car was fixed, he called to ask what my out of pocket expenses were and offered to reimburse promptly. In the second case, where the damage wasn’t much and I didn’t want to get my old car fixed, they just paid me cash for the estimated amount. </p>
<p>I strongly suggest you find out who the police report listed as being at fault, call that driver’s insurance company and start talking damages.</p>
<p>Contact YOUR insurance company and discuss all of this with them. You should be covered by them with any deductible eventually coming from the insurance company of the at-fault person. Your insurance company should be paying to get your car fixed and you s/b able to rent a car as well if you had that coverage (if you didn’t then you’d need to pay for the rental and the at-fault party reimburse).</p>
<p>If you have no insurance then it’s a problem or if you only have liability insurance, i.e. no collision insurance on your ca, then it’ll be a problem as well since you’ll be dependent on the other party’s insurance company assuming they have one. Also, are you certain the insurance companies have made a decision as to the ‘fault’?</p>
<p>I’d be careful about the massage therapist. You may or may not get that reimbursed. You can’t self-diagnose or just do what you think feels good - you need to be examined by a doctor and follow the doctor’s advice. Did a doctor tell you to see a massage person? Did you pass it by your insurance company to see if it’d be covered?</p>
<p>Don’t assume anything. You need to get confirmation before spending any money or you might find yourself without reimbursement.</p>
<p>Agree with Gladgraddad. The treating physicians should be directing the treatment, and auto’s med pay should cover it if it is related to the accident. Then your insu company may pursue subrogation, to see if another carrier should be responsible for the bill. You can always use your personal insu and inform them this is accident related so they can pursue subrogation as well.</p>
<p>Fumaroles,
I would not pay massage therapist one penny. Give him/her name of your attorney and have them address all bills there.</p>
<p>My car accident was a year ago. I am still being seen by orthopedist and spine doctor. I wouldn’t mind seeing MT or chiropractor, but I am skeptical,of their being reimbursed. My bills must be high by now. I am ready to direct lawyer to move ahead, with caveat that I may need surgery in future. </p>
<p>I may add that I went to PT for months, after first having doctor/ lawyer agree about expenses to me. When the ER department of hospital billed me, I forwarded these bills directly to attorney, and sent a letter to the hospital. I did the same with ambulance company. I totally understand that providers are paid quickly if they use my health insurance, but my personal,policy should not,be involved at all. Providers do not want to wait to be paid. </p>
<p>OP, you did the right thing in canceling your appointment, if the MT’s office billed your insurance company rather than the auto company. Every billing form asks the question, Is this injury due to an auto accident? To lie on that question is fraud or sloppiness . I hope you do recover soon . Not all of us are as fortunate. Use the lawyer; that is why he/she gets 30-40% of whatever you recover. (Personally, if they pay my medical bills, I doubt I’ll get anything in cash settlement above those bills).</p>
<p>How would this effect your transferring schools?</p>
<p>I do have health insurance, and they are paying everything for me expect the massage therapy because it is considered out of network since our plan is from another state where my dad’s work is headquartered. They are notified about the accident.</p>
<p>The adjuster had wanted to discuss the accident with me but after she tried to con us into signing a release on the car that waived them from medical bills, and anything else we decided that I would not give a statement until I discussed this with an attorney. We discussed with him at the initial meeting, and he wasn’t happy about one paragraph in the release again as it kept mentioning how the person at fault would not be admitting fault. So we responded to this, and from that point on she has stressed to us that she wouldn’t take it out. In the end we needed the car back so bad that I used my fin aid money to buy it back. It was essentially 4 people using one car. From what we’ve read on line this insurance (at fault party) insures high risk drivers. I also read on-line not give statements until speaking with an attorney. </p>
<p>The massage was recommend/prescribed by my primary care because my muscles in my neck, and shoulders felt like a rock to her. I may use the med pay to pay for this, but otherwise I will continue to get them once a month. I won’t go any more as the I never even saw a treatment plan. Again, this is partially why I’m angry at this specific therapist as I felt it would be discussed. I’m just wondering if it would backfire for me to see a new therapist at this point because if it isn’t settled out of court the defense attorney may use it against me. Then again at this point who knows what the therapist would even say.</p>
<p>I did ask for a rental car and was denied by the at fault party’s insurance, and I don’t have on my own which is why I never got one.</p>
<p>The police report wasn’t written the best to put it nice. The didn’t have the right towing agency, and wouldn’t listen when my mom told them at the scene that our tow truck was coming. In fact the police only took my statement! There was two departments who responded, and the one was shocked that the other, who ultimately handle it, wasn’t taking any more. They also scared half of the witnesses off so that only one stayed behind. Overall, I think it was handled pretty poorly. I felt much more comfortable with the police officer from the other department.</p>
<p>Actually, I only pay 25% if it is settled out of court before any work begins to prepare for trail. I thought that was pretty good actually since most said 33% in my area.</p>
<p>I thought perhaps transferring might hinder the case if I would have to fly back for any court appearances, or if I had to meet with the lawyer.</p>
<p>I’ve only paid for 3 massages at an expense $70 each! The massage therapist at the chiropractor only charges me $50 because I’m a student. The chiropractor is willingly to wait until I get settled, but will bill health insurance if lawyer tells them too. Their lawyer is actually the one I hired on recommendation of the chiropractor. Since the lawyer’s brothers are chiropractor he understands more of what happening. My hip is shifted up, and is rotated so it causes most of my pain now. PT is helping but they can’t do much for when I have to sit in lec, or lab for 3 hrs.</p>
I thought the typical treatment plans from chiropractors and massage people was usually - “forever”. This is part of the problem with those professions.</p>
<p>
If the other party is truly at fault in this, the insurance company doesn’t get a say in denying this altogether (unless they don’t cover the insured for it). You would still be entitled to a rental car. It’d then be up to the offending driver and his ins company as to who would pay. The problem for you is that if the other ins company won’t pay then you’d have to try to get it out of the driver which is more hassle and if they have no money then it’s even worse.</p>
<p>Note that insurance rules and laws change by locale so the details of what must be done would depend on where you are. Again - talk to your insurance company about this including the massage business and the rental car paid by the offender.</p>
<p>Your insurance shouldn’t even be involved. You should not have contacted them. The proper insurance company to deal with is the one insuring the at-fault vehicle.</p>
No - this is incorrect. One should contact their own ins company right away and let them sort it out. There are lots of good reasons to do this including some that have already been stated.</p>
<p>Once again Gladgraddad beat me to it. Your insu co can be invaluable in helping get things sorted out. Your rates wont go up just because you contacted them.</p>
<p>Many medical providers will not accept third-party auto insurance. It is way too big of a hassle. Those cases can drag on and on and medical providers have bills to pay too!</p>
<p>Sometimes auto insurance will confirm /authorize coverage if it is very, <em>very</em> clear that the accident caused the injury (ie broken bone). But they won’t tell you how much is left of the person’s medpay, so sometimes even if the treatment has been documentd as payable by auto insurance, they may not pay if benefits are exhausted. </p>
<p>In other cases auto insu may claim they do not believe the injury being treatd was caused by the accident. That leats to lots of paperwork and appeals. So yes, very often medical professionals will not accept auto insurance. Again, you can use your regular health insu but let them know it is accident related so they can fight it out with the other insurers.</p>
<p>Let me reiterate. Your insurance company should give you advice on what to do, but that is it. Your insurance company has just as much power of coercion with the at-fault insurance company as you do. The two companies are completely separate, and do not work together. You, the at-fault driver, and their insurance company are the ones who will be sorting it out. Your insurance is only involved if the other person does not have insurance, hense the idea of uninsured motorist policies.</p>
<p>I did contact my auto insurance, and agent did not want anything submitted under my name as I am only 20. He believed it would increase our rates even though it was not my fault. The lawyer disagreed with him on this, and told me to submit anything to med plus that wasn’t covered by health insurance. </p>
<p>I assumed health insurance would file their own claim against the at party’s fault insurance to get their money back. They are nationally known, BCBS, so I’m sure they have plenty of lawyers to deal with this.</p>
<p>My chiropractor actually only has me coming in 1 a week, and only to come more if needed for now. As his most important goal is to get my hip back in place. So I know his treatment plan won’t last forever, as he treated me in the past.</p>
<p>All of my doctor’s offices have taken the at fault party’s insurance information, but once it was rejected they sent it to health insurance.</p>
<p>Working with the at fault party will not happen as he tried to deny causing the accident, didn’t send the police report to his insurance to begin with, and seemed very confused at the time of the accident. The whole time he just tried to pin it on the other guy who was not at fault as we had the right of way (green light). In fact he even came and apologized to me right after the accident.</p>
<p>Do you know what their insurance company is? Because if so, you should be contacting them at this point. You can report a claim to their insurance company on their insurance policy because there are police reports stating that you were in a crash caused by their insured motorist. Then, they should send out a surveyor to you to take a look at your car. Or, if your car is already fixed, redirect them to the mechanic whom has to vouch to the damage and the direct relationship to the accident. Then, the surveyor will return to the company, and the company will make reimbursements to you for the amount that the accident cost you. As for the medical part, I am not entirely sure how that works, but still payment should be coming from the at-fault’s insurance.</p>
<p>cardoza - have you dealt with insurance companies due to accidents quite a lot? It generally doesn’t work the way you’re outlining. You’re looking at it in black and white and that’s not usually the way it is since whoever’s at fault usually end up denying being at fault even if it’s clear at the time. Even if that driver admits to being at fault their insurance company might not agree. Often police aren’t even involved or if they are, don’t always assign fault. The OP was already denied by the other driver’s insurance company for some claims. She needs to pursue this with her own insurance company. They have some skin in the game and are used to dealing with other insurance companies.</p>
<p>At the end of the day what should be most important to the OP is to get reimbursed - whether that’s from the other insurance company or her own.</p>