Injury Lawyer for Pennsylvania Medical Bills Reimbursement
If you are injured while riding your motorcycle as a result of the negligence of another, whether that is another motor vehicle, a property owner, a local municipality, or even the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, your first call should be to a Pennsylvania motorcycle accident lawyer to get legal representation.
Call Pennsylvania motorcycle injury lawyer Lee Gaber at 888-292-5352 for a free injury consultation.
Pennsylvania motorcycle injury attorney Lee Gaber is experienced in helping injured bikers get their medical bills reimbursed.
I have settled substantial six-figure and seven-figure cases for a Pennsylvania motorcycle accident clients who sustained serious injuries to legs, arms, spines, head.
Motorcycle Bodily Injury Settlements & No-Fault Law
The current Commonwealth of Pennsylvania’s Motor Vehicle Financial Responsibility Law enacted in 1990, with various amendments since that date, is more commonly referred to as The “No-Fault law”.
As common a phrase as this is, unless they have been involved in a motorcycle accident in Pennsylvania before, most people don’t completely understand what the phrase “No-Fault” actually means. It’s really quite simple.
“No Fault” is the principle that if you are involved in a motor vehicle accident, regardless of who is at fault for the accident, the injured party is responsible to pay for his own medical bills.
As a result of the “No-Fault” law the Pennsylvania legislature passed a law requiring that all automobile insureds be required to have at least $5,000 in Personal Injury Protection or “PIP”, i.e. medical coverage for injury accidents.
The obvious problems with this system were:
- the legislature specifically excluded motorcycles from the law, and
- $5,000 barely covered the ambulance and the emergency room visit
Call Lee at 888-292-5352 24 hours a day, seven days a week, for a free consultation.
Why You Need a Injury Lawyer for Medical Bills Reimbursement
Our economy is completely different today than it was when the no-fault laws went into effect, specifically with regard to medical insurance.
Back then virtually anyone with a full-time job, had some form of health insurance, but boy how times have changed… if you were involved in a motorcycle injury accident and didn’t have any medical benefits on your motorcycle accident policy, all you had to do was give the hospital or the Dr’s your medical card and your bills were sent to your health insurance company.
In some cases that even worked out better than having the mandatory $5,000 in PIP benefits.
However, in 2017, Pennsylvania law still does not require motorcycle insurance companies to provide medical benefits, so instead of almost everyone having some form of employer-sponsored medical insurance, that has now become the exception.
Now for the really bad news:
If you are seriously injured in a motorcycle accident in PA, and don’t have any private medical benefits, you are still legally responsible to pay for your motorcycle accident medical bills.
This is the law as it currently stands and it makes no difference to the billing departments who was responsible for the accident. They simply know that you received the care and therefore they are looking to you for payment.
As I said, this is the current law, however there are some ways your motorcycle injury lawyer can legally get your motorcycle injury accident medical bills paid.
The most common is for motorcycle injury lawyers to attempt to resolve your motorcycle accident claim quickly, being careful not to accept a motorcycle accident settlement in a manner which short changes you.
Just because Pennsylvania is a “No-Fault” state doesn’t mean that the responsible party is completely off the hook.
On the contrary, they are ultimately responsible to pay for your medical bills, if they are still outstanding when the case resolves, but that assumes they have sufficient insurance coverage to do so.
Call Pennsylvania motorcycle injury lawyer Lee Gaber at 888-292-5352 for a free consultation.
Motorcycle Injury Attorneys Negotiate Medical Bills
In the end, most medical providers are used to only receiving about 20% of the amount they charge, so if your motorcycle injury lawyer is successful in your motorcycle injury claim, my motorcycle accident law firm can normally negotiate with the medical providers to accept a fraction of what they might actually be owed.
However, please understand that these days the typical driver in Pennsylvania usually does not have more than $25,000-$100,000 in total liability coverage on their vehicle.
So while we may be able to use some of this recovery to satisfy any outstanding motorcycle injury medical bills, that simply means that there will be less money to compensate you for your pain and suffering and lost wages from your motorcycle accident.
Hospitalized Because of a Motorcycle Injury?
Are you in the hospital and unable to come to my Conshohocken motorcycle accident law firm?
You should still call right away, I will come to see you in the hospital. I represent clients across the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania so it doesn’t matter if you were injured in Berks County, Harrisburg, Allentown, or anyplace in between. Don’t hesitate to call me just because you are stuck in a hospital.
Insurance companies may make a low settlement offer to you while you are still in the hospital. They want to do this before you even know the full extent of your injuries, or the cost of full rehabilitation of your injuries.
It is not only your right to refuse the offer, you can also refuse to see or talk to them at all.
I recommend the latter. Then call me at 888-292-5352 (that’s 888-cycle-law). I’ll get on the road to see you as soon as possible.
Once I arrive at the hospital we can go over the facts of the accident. It is best to get the story down while it is fresh in your mind. You will have an opportunity to fill in the details later.
In the meanwhile, I’ll be able to advise you on your claim, as well as give you valuable information about hospitals, insurance and what you can expect during your recovery and claim period. Think of me as a source of information about your best interests.
Don’t Destroy Evidence
Make sure the hospital retains all clothing and gear you were wearing, especially if it shows evidence of force and skidding. A helmet with a broken face shield or skid abrasion tells a story and can be a compelling part of your settlement.
Medical Records
Over the last 25+ years, my Pennsylvania motorcycle accident law firm has reviewed thousands of demand packages, which normally include the accident report, injury and scene photos, medical records and bills, wage loss information and any other information that is generated when a motorcycle collision occurs, so we may proceed with motorcycle injury settlements.
In many cases there is no problem. The police report is done properly, and if there are witnesses present a statement is taken, and more than often, it is correct. The problems come when the police officers don’t fill out the police report accurately or in some cases, due to the severity of my client’s injuries, they aren’t able to get a statement and the police report ends up one-sided.
Those types of problems are easily enough resolved once we get motorcycle injury settlements under way and begin our investigation. However, it’s the problem/mistakes that are made in the medical records which are virtually impossible to correct, especially given that we usually don’t receive them until months after the collision occurs.
Medical records are now being digitized to make it easier for medical history to be accessed by any doctor.
Part of a motorcycle accident lawyers job is to address problems that arise when representing a client who has had past medical history with the same part of the body as new injuries they suffered in the bike accident.
If the prior medical history was entered incorrectly, such as listing a prior problem to a left knee as opposed to a right knee, and then re-injuring your knees in a motorcycle accident, it can be very difficult to explain to the responsible insurance company in the motorcycle injury settlement negotiation that your prior medical history was entered incorrectly. It can be even more difficult to try and have the error fixed.
Upon receipt of the prior medical records, I generally go through them with my clients. Many of them are shocked to hear what is actually in their records, especially when it is completely irrelevant or just plain wrong, but has now been digitized.
The insurance company will attempt to contact you before you have enlisted the services of a Pennsylvania motorcycle accident lawyer, and attempt to take a recorded statement so they can learn about prior accidents or incidents.
They attempt to have you sign an authorization giving them permission to obtain medical information that occurred either from a prior motorcycle accident. This is why we always tell our clients, if you are involved in an accident do not speak or give any information to an insurance company until you speak to your motorcycle accident attorney.
Simply put – insurance companies are not entitled to any information from you, and they are certainly not entitled to record your conversation and should never be allowed to do so.
Preventative Action
The way to avoid finding yourself in this dilemma is to purchase as much uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage on your own motorcycle policy. This way you will have the ability to collect additional injury compensation if you are injured by someone who did not purchase enough coverage to fully compensate you for all of your damages.
Motorcycle policies rarely, if ever, contain any coverage for medical payments, because it is not required in Pennsylvania. As a result, most people assume that motorcycle personal injury insurance is unavailable.
Most insurance companies vary in the amount they offer from a minimum/maximum of $1,000 to $10,000. The cost also varies from a low of $32 per year for $2,000 worth of coverage from an internet insurance company to $200-$400 per year for $5,000-$10,000 worth of coverage through more traditional insurance companies.
Although it is virtually impossible to purchase enough medical insurance on your motorcycle policy to cover all potential medical bills incurred as a result of an accident, depending on which company you select, it may be affordable to purchase minimal medical coverage that would cover at least your transportation to the hospital and the emergency room care, dependent upon the type of injury you incur.
Believe me some health insurance is much better than none at all!
Buy Whatever Personal Injury Insurance You Can
Unfortunately, many of my clients no longer have private health insurance through their employers and therefore if they are involved in a motorcycle accident are often left with staggering medical bills and no insurance to pay them.
I suggest that if you have no private health insurance you get on the phone with your motorcycle insurance agent and purchase whatever amount of medical insurance you can on your motorcycle, no matter what the costs.
Even though I realize that purchasing medical coverage may not be affordable to every rider, I would suggest spending a few minutes investigating on your own to find out if medical coverage is available from your company and if so, what it would cost.
If you have questions about Pennsylvania motorcycle lawyers and how we can help you with a Pennsylvania motorcycle accident, please feel free to call me at 888-292-5352 (888-cycle-law). I’m available 24/7!
Motorcycle Injury Lawyer Free Consultation and Pennsylvania Motorcycle Accident Case Review
You can use the online form to reach Lee D. Gaber, Esq., motorcycle accident attorney.
If you are confined to your hospital bed, or have been released to your home, but are still unable to come to me, I will come to you.