This depends on if you have insurance or not. If you do not have insurance, then the answer is going to be yes. In fact, you will probably be encouraged by your hospital, doctor or both. They want to get their money any way they can. Of course, there are ways for your medical collectors to make sure they are compensated after you retain a settlement with a variety means, which I will get into later.
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The Demand Letter
One of the first steps you can do as the victim is file something called a demand letter. A demand letter is an opportunity to settle what normally would become a long, drawn out court battle. It is also one of the most common, civil methods to settle a personal injury case without having to hire a lawyer and get caught up in a lengthy court battle.
Content of the Demand Letter
The letter explains how the person or company is at fault for your medical care and other related expenses. In other words, it lets the recipient or whoever insures the recipient know they are at-fault. It should also go on to explain any injuries and all of the physical damage done to your property. Finally, it demands compensation. In the world of lawyers and personal injury, a well-written, strong demand letter is seen as a work of art.
A strong demand letter should contain a certain level of restraint while maintaining strength and anger. Also, there are a lot of other requirements such as, attention to detail, medical knowledge of each injury without embellishment and superb writing skills. All of those things have to work together in harmony, and your writing skills will need to be strong and demonstrate your anger, pain and loss without ranting. It is possible to demonstrate anger, pain and loss and remain professional, even objective.
Composing a Demand Letter Too Soon
You have to carefully itemize your medical records and calculate your damages before composing a demand letter. You are probably anxious to get compensation, but the anxiety will lead to writing the demand letter prematurely. If you want to get the most out of your compensation, you will need to file for requests of all your medical records pertaining to your injuries. Obtaining all of these records will take time, but you find your venture to be quite unproductive if you send the demand letter too soon.
The Composition of the Demand Letter
The demand letter should be meticulous in naming each injury related to the incident and the medical bills stemming from each injury. Along with the each injury, you should include the date and time it occurred, the treatment for each, the date of each treatment and the amount of each medical bill for each injury. You cannot accurately give hard evidence or testimony about your medical bills without reporting everything with indisputable accuracy. If you do not provide this information, then the insurance company and the person at-fault either will either refuse to compensate or contest based on faulty medical documentation.
Can I Pay My Bills After My Accident Settlement?
This scenario applies more if you have some sort of health insurance, but it happens all the time. You can request permission from your insurance company to pay all of your own medical bills, and there are certainly benefits to doing this, but your insurance company has the legal right to decline. It is the job of your insurance company to pay your medical bills because if something goes wrong, the hospital and other medical outfits may want some insurance they are going to get paid. The reason they are so adamant is because medical creditors can sue your insurance company. Liens can be applied though, and they are generally paid off after a lawsuit has finished and payout has commenced.
The information above is just general info and introductory information. Doing a lot of research into this field about the reasons behind it and more advanced procedures is recommended. Across jurisdictions there are laws changing all of the time. The best advice is to get a personalized case evaluation from a qualified lawyer in your state before participating in a situation you might not think is nearly as attractive or noble as you once thought.
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