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If you were injured in a wreck, you may be wondering what medical bills are covered after a car accident in Minnesota. Contact BK Law Group today to speak with our dedicated personal injury team and get the guidance you need to protect both your recovery and your finances.
Minnesota is a No-Fault state, meaning your initial medical bills will be covered by your own auto insurance for up to $20,000; this is referred to as the “No-Fault” or “PIP” benefit. This no-fault benefit is in place specifically for you to receive immediate treatment after a collision and to address any injuries you might have sustained. However, despite your insurance company paying for your treatments up to $20,000, they are still monitoring what types of treatments you receive and can still deny certain types of treatments if they feel they are unrelated to the collision.
Insurance companies cover a variety of treatments, including, but not limited to, medical, surgical, imaging, optical, dental, chiropractic, rehabilitative, physical therapy, prosthetic devices, prescription drugs, mental health care, etc.
However, for a treatment to be accepted for payment, it must be directly related to the injuries you sustained in the collision, and you must seek treatment from an established, reputable provider. Insurance companies have been known to deny claims from MedSpas and other similar facilities. This is largely because they consider the treatments you received at these MedSpa facilities to be elective.
If you feel you need additional care to heal the injuries sustained from the collision, tell your treating physician about your ongoing difficulties and discuss potential options for a referral to use in tandem with your current treatment plan. Having a referral from a doctor will further support your claim that the treatments you received were all medically necessary and directly related to the injuries sustained.
Overall, the treatments covered must be directly related to the injuries sustained in the collision, and that connection is supported by doctors’ statements and referrals embedded in the records.
Despite your insurance covering up to $20,000 in your initial treatment, there are certain treatments that your insurance company might deny. Generally, what’s not covered are any treatments you receive that are unrelated to the collision. Additionally, any treatment you received regularly before the collision is unlikely to be covered, though there are exceptions. If you received chiropractic care once a month for general alignment and then got into a collision and increased your visits to once a week due to the back pain stemming from the collision, then this increase in chiropractic care might be covered by insurance, as the increase was directly due to the collision.
It’s important to remember that your auto insurance will only cover up to $20,000 in medical treatment, and any treatment received after that will be paid by your health insurance. Your health insurance will then establish a subrogation lien to be repaid by the at-fault driver’s insurance.
Now that we know what medical bills will be covered by the no-fault insurance, let’s determine what medical bills are covered by the at-fault party’s insurance, otherwise known as the bodily injury claim.
The first thing to know is that the bodily injury claim will not pay for bills as they are incurred. Rather, the bodily injury claim will be paid in a lump sum at the settlement of the case to account for the medical costs incurred, the pain and suffering endured, and the alteration to your daily life. So, while the question of the no-fault claim is what bills are covered, the question for the bodily injury claim should be what bills will count towards the $4,000 threshold.
You might be asking, what is this $4,000 threshold? In order to make a bodily injury claim, you will need to have medical costs that meet or exceed $4,000. While there are other ways to open a bodily injury claim, the $4,000 threshold is the most common.
Now, let’s return to the question: what medical bills will count towards the $4,000 threshold?
Similar to the no-fault claim, the bodily injury claim will cover a variety of treatments, including but not limited to medical, surgical, optical, dental, chiropractic, physical therapy, mental health, etc. It’s important to remember that for a treatment to be accepted for payment, it must be directly related to the injuries you sustained in the collision, and you must seek treatment from an established, reputable provider.
Unlike the no-fault claim, the bodily injury claim will not pay for treatments as they are billed. The treatments will be billed to your health insurance, and the total medical expense you incurred will be considered for payment toward the bodily injury claim. Meaning if you have $20,000 in medical expenses or in a health insurance lien, the bodily injury claim will likely pay for the full $20,000 as those expenses were only incurred as a result of the at-fault driver/their insured.
While a $4,000 threshold must be reached for a bodily injury claim to be established, you should not stop treating just because you have reached this threshold. You should continue to treat until you have reached your pre-accident condition. Above all, personal injury cases focus on your overall health and recovery.
The “what counts” answer can be vague due to the variety of treatment options available, but there are clear answers to the question “what doesn’t count.”
In a bodily injury claim, any X-rays, MRIs, MRAs, EKGs, or any other diagnostic tests or imaging do not count towards the $4,000 threshold.
Although these diagnostic tests don’t contribute to the $4,000 threshold, we don’t often have difficulty with clients meeting it. If you are diligent in your treatment and regularly attend sessions, you will likely reach the $4,000 threshold needed for a bodily injury claim.
Once you have reached that $4,000 threshold, you will be able to open a bodily injury claim where the value of your claim will be determined by comparing the at-fault party’s policy limits to the medical costs you incurred, the pain and suffering you endured, and the alteration to your daily life. Although the diagnostic tests do not count toward the threshold, their costs will be included in the settlement amount.
After a car collision, your auto insurance will be the first to cover the medical bills incurred for up to $20,000 through your no-fault or PIP insurance. For these treatments to be accepted for payment, they must be directly related to the injuries you sustained in the collision, and you must seek treatment from an established, reputable provider.
Next, you will open a bodily injury claim. To open a bodily injury claim, you will need to meet the $4,000 threshold of medical expenses incurred, not counting X-rays, MRIs, MRAs, EKGs, or other diagnostic testing. Bodily injury claims will not pay your bills as they incur; rather, the bodily injury settlement will come in a lump sum at the settlement of your case to account for the medical expenses incurred, the pain and suffering endured, and the alteration of daily life.
If you want to receive the best outcome for your case, contact BK Law Group, and our dedicated personal injury team will be more than happy to explain what medical bills are covered after a car accident in Minnesota, discuss your specific case, and see how we can help.
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