auto insurance coverage

derrick mason What’s the difference between PIP and medical payments coverage?

Auto insurance coverages are important to understand

Response : A very good question. Once you understand this you would know what auto insurance coverage you need and why you need. This is important since health expense is an expense you can never put off , you need to be in good health and restort your health to survive. You can put off the repair of the car but can you put off the body issues?

 Basic liability insurance covers the injuries you cause to others in car accidents. But what about your injuries? You’ll need to buy extra coverage to cover those. There are two main kinds of coverage that offer payments for a driver’s medical bills after an auto accident: medical payments coverage and personal injury protection (PIP). Here’s how these two types of coverage work.

Medical payments coverage is an optional type of insurance that pays for necessary medical bills for you and your passengers after an accident, according to the National Association of Insurance Commissioners. It will cover you even if you’re the one who caused the accident. The amount of the payout depends on how much coverage you buy; generally, only treatment received within three years of the accident is eligible, according to Progressive. In addition to paying medical bills, medical payments coverage will pay for funeral expenses if you or your passengers die.

Medical payments coverage can end up overlapping with a person’s general health insurance coverage. But for those without comprehensive employer health insurance, medical payments coverage can be a safeguard against the expensive injuries that result from auto accidents.

Personal injury protection (PIP)

PIP pays for medical bills, funeral costs and lost wages after an accident. In states with no-fault insurance systems, it is a required type of coverage. No-fault states require that accident victims collect from their own insurance companies instead of suing the at-fault driver’s insurance company. PIP, which pays out no matter who is at fault, allows them to do that.

Some states that don’t have no-fault systems still require PIP. Texas, for example, requires drivers to buy it unless they sign a waiver specifically rejecting it, according to the Texas Department of Insurance.

Similar but different

If you live in a state that offers both medical payments coverage and PIP (and where both are optional), it’s important to know the differences.

For one thing, PIP covers lost wages, while medical payments coverage does not, according to the NAIC. In other words, PIP will help make up for the wages you missed while recovering and unable to work. Medical payments coverage, meanwhile, pays only for your medical bills.

Another key difference has to do with something called “subrogation.” If you have PIP and you get a settlement from the other driver’s insurance company, you can keep all of the money, according to the website of Robert C. Slim, a personal injury attorney in Dallas. For example, say you get $2,000 from your PIP coverage to pay your medical bills and then sue the other driver’s insurer and get a settlement $5,000. That settlement is yours to keep.

In some states, though, things can get more complicated when it comes to medical payments coverage, as it is subject to subrogation (a legal term for reimbursement). For example, say your insurer pays your medical payments claim and you then get a settlement from the other driver’s insurer. Depending on your state, your insurer might be entitled to part of that settlement as reimbursement for the medical payments claim.

Get your car insurance quote, once you know what coverages you require.

Andy Edmonds: I live in New York and was reading your blog on “No fault insurance“, when I decided to compare auto insurance quotes online. Are there any expected changes for this.

Response: As per the latest information received from on 24th November 2009, New York as per the statement of Superintendent James J. Wrynn said that they have made all efforts to stop the abuse of no fault insurance. The cost of each no-fault claim has gone up by more than half in the past five years, and all New Yorkers with auto insurance are paying for this. The department said its fraud investigations bureau received more than 11,000 complaints alleging no-fault fraud this year to date, a 7 percent increase over the total for all of 2008. The number of no-fault arrests in 2008 was 52 percent greater than in 2007.

As per Paul Magaril, regional manager of Property Casualty Insurers Association of America (PCI) the New York auto insurance rates are the second highest auto insurance premiums in USA. This is almost 50 percent more than the rest of the country. As per PCI the cost of the no fault system of New York the cost of claims is estimated $1.2 million per day. This is the result of frauds like over-utilization of health system. The medical cost is very high.

The Insurers think it is time to stop the frauds and make some changes which will come into effect from January 1st 2010. The changes would take time to be implemented and passed. However, here are the changes which are porposed :

The main idea behind this is to protect consumers the auto insurance frauds have to be stopped so that the low auto insurance rates are available for the customers.

I am sure we all would appreciate the changes, in the long run once we get low auto insurance quotes and start saving on car insurance.

Leena: Why has “no fualt” been introduced?

Response: No fault has been introduced in the Unted States in 13 of the states. However, the threshold of the no fualt is very low at present and is onl $500/- in some states. Also there is no state in the great nation that offer “pure” no fault insurance. The thirteen states that claim to have “no fualt” insurance im allow you to sue at some monetary or verbal threshold. These “modified” no fault plans are better but still leave a lot to be desired in order to accomplish the pure no fault.

Let me explain example, if you are in an accident and you state has a $2000 monetary threshold on you medical bills before you can obtain the right to sue. If you actual medical bills were $1750/-there is nothing stopping you from visiting the doctor again. You can order some more expensive tests and exceeding the limit, and than sue for thousands in pain and suffering. But remember that now some states allow you to sue for pain and suffering only if you are seriously injured.

The reason we need no fault:
1. quicker, more efficient payment of claims,
2. currently we receive around 13 cent of our premium dollar back on actual medical expenses and lost wages,
3. After an accident people can concentrate on rehabitalation and not pretend to be injured to get higher awards.
4. lower insurance rates,
5. less expense on lawyers,
6. no longer have to supplement for uninsured motorists and
7. stop insurance companies from overpaying small claims because of the threat of litigation .

I am sure now you have understood this a little better.

Jackson (Pennsylvania ) I Have No-Fault Insurance, so I’m not at fault for an accident?

Response : The meaning of a No- fault insurance coverage in an auto insurance policy means that if you are involved in a car accident and you are injured or your vehicle is damaged than you have to deal with your own insurance company, irrespective of the fact whether you or the other driver is at fault. This is to ensure that you will get the financial help from your own insurance company for your injuries or damaged auto, rather than waiting for any decision of who is at fault and settlement from the other insurer.

In US this law differs in each state. Kentucky, New Jersey and Pennsylvania -permit their policy holders to choice between the traditional tort (file a suit against the wrong doer) and no-fault recovery regimes. The policy holders can select “choice” or “optional” no -fault, or “full tort” and “limited tort” (no-fault) In both Kentucky and New Jersey, if no choice is made by the policy holder than no-fault option is given by default. In Pennsylvania if an insured fails to select than the full-tort option is assigned by default. Some states have repelled the no-fault system but Florida has created a new no-fault system as of January 1, 2008.

Review car insurance coverage and find out if your auto insurance policy has “no fault:. If you donot, compare auto insurance quotes online but be sure to choose the correct option avaliable for “no-fault” depending upon your state.