What Do I Do with the Medical Bills I Receive as a Result of a Car Accident?
If another driver leaves you injured in a car accident in Brooklyn, things work a bit differently than they do in most of the states outside of New York. The State of New York is a no-fault state, which means that your own insurance or the insurance carried by the driver of the car you were riding in should cover your medical bills, to begin with.
If your injuries are serious, however, your claim will likely go outside of this no-fault realm, but in the early stages after your car accident, your medical bills will be paid by the no-fault (or personal injury protection, PIP) coverage that you carry. If you’ve been seriously injured in a car accident that was caused by another driver’s negligence, don’t put off consulting with an experienced Brooklyn car accident attorney.
Your No-Fault Coverage
The idea behind no-fault coverage is to speed the compensation process and to make sure that accident victims can take care of their basic medical costs and lost wages without having to engage in long, drawn-out legal endeavors. The no-fault process is abbreviated, and you have only 30 days from the date of the injury-causing accident to file your No-Fault Application. While this process can help you address your losses more quickly, it is not up to the task of addressing the more serious damages associated with more serious car accidents.
Your Serious Injuries
No-fault benefits in the State of New York cover only the first $50,000 in your basic economic losses, which include both your medical costs and your lost earnings. Your damages that relate to physical and emotional pain and suffering can only be addressed if your injuries qualify as serious, and there are nine such classifications, including:
- Dismemberment
- Significant disfigurement, such as if your face or neck are seriously scarred
- A broken bone or fracture
- The permanent loss of use of a body organ, function, member, or system
- A permanent consequential limitation of use of a body member or organ
- A significant limitation to the use of a body function or system
- An injury that stops you from performing your usual activities for at least half of the first 190 days following the car accident that leaves you injured
- Loss of a fetus
- Death
While some of these are quite straightforward – such as loss of a fetus, death, and a broken bone – others are obviously written in legalese, and they often require the professional legal guidance of an experienced Brooklyn car accident attorney to establish.
An Experienced Brooklyn Car Accident Attorney Can Help
The Brooklyn car accident attorneys at Lipsig, Shapey, Manus & Moverman focus their impressive practice on helping clients like you fully recover on their physical, financial, and emotional losses, and we’re committed to doing the same for you. To learn more about what we can do to help you, please don’t hesitate to contact us online or call us at 212-285-3300 today.
