How to Pay for Surgery After a Colorado Truck Accident

Pay for Surgery After Truck Accident

Written by Jeremy D. Earle, JD

April 26, 2023

Let’s take a look at some worst-case situations.

Assume you’re involved in a truck collision. Assume you’ve been hurt. Assume the injuries are severe enough to need surgery.

Your first emphasis as an accident victim should be on recovery. However, we understand that the most pressing question on your mind is, “How am I going to pay for this medical procedure?”

You’ll have expensive medical costs to pay if you were seriously injured in a car accident, particularly if your injuries needed surgery. The expense of anaesthesia alone might exceed $3,500. It would help if you also considered the expense of utilizing the hospital’s facility and the cost of your doctor’s services.

What if one of the physicians or surgeons at the emergency department isn’t in your insurance network? How will you be able to pay your expenses, particularly if your injuries are severe enough to prohibit you from working? Warrior, Injury Accident Lawyers in Colorado Springs, has a team of experienced truck accident lawyers.

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Step 1: Speak with an experienced personal injury lawyer.

It may be difficult to keep track of much alone pay, large medical bills, and surgery expenditures resulting from an accident. You’ll need the assistance of a personal injury lawyer to assess your legal options. You may be able to get compensation to assist you in paying your debts. A skilled personal injury lawyer may help you with a variety of things, including:

A Letter of Protection is a legal document used to protect someone from harm.

You may not always have the financial means to pay your physicians right away. Not only do you have your regular costs and expenditures to pay, but you also have those new, significant medical bills to pay as well as a temporary loss of income due to your accident.

This isn’t to say you shouldn’t get the help you need.

There is a ray of hope. You and your attorney believe that you will be able to pay your medical expenditures after you get a settlement or judgment against the parties who caused your accident. Of course, attaining that result takes months, if not years, so you’ll need to talk to the medical providers you owe about the delay.

A letter of protection may help in this situation.

In essence, a letter of protection is a commitment to pay your medical expenses after your compensation is received. Medical practitioners often accept a letter of protection as a method to provide you with some financial breathing space. At the same time, you recover from car accident injuries and pursue damages claims. Consult an expert truck accident lawyer to see whether issuing a letter of protection to your medical providers might be beneficial. They can make this happen for you.

Evidence Gathering and Evaluation

Attorneys understand the significance of evidence in every truck accident injury case. Liability and damages are established by evidence. It is the basis around which a compensation claim is built.

An attorney’s principal goal in gathering and assessing evidence is to achieve two main goals.

First, the attorney needs to determine who is legally responsible for your injuries and who has the financial means to compensate you. Attorneys often look into the following parties that may be liable in a truck accident case:

The driver of the car that collided with yours. They may have caused your injuries by making negligent or reckless judgments behind the wheel.

The company that employs that driver. The employer might be held accountable if the accident occurred while the driver was working and operating a commercial car.

A mechanic who has just finished working on a car. If a technical breakdown caused the accident, a negligent technician might blame.

The car’s manufacturer. A manufacturer may be held accountable if a flaw in the car causes a mechanical breakdown.

An entity that is part of the local government. That’s right: if your injuries were caused by an excessively unsafe and avoidable road condition or another public hazard, the local government might be held liable.

It’s critical to identify numerous people that had a role in your accident. It might significantly improve your chances of collecting maximum reimbursement for your car accident injuries. Commercial drivers and businesses, for example, often have insurance plans with far larger coverage limits than individual drivers.

Second, the attorney will normally inquire about the extent of your injuries as a result of the event. Your medical expenditures for surgery and other treatment are part of the damage, but so are any earnings you lose out on because of your collision injuries.

 In addition, your attorney may want to consider the non-monetary damages you sustained as a result of a truck accident, such as the extent of your physical suffering and mental distress, as well as the effect the accident had on your quality of life. These items are also important.

An attorney may be able to assist in achieving these goals by:

Speak with any witnesses to the accident. Witness comments may assist in determining what caused the accident and who should be held responsible. Attorneys like to talk with witnesses as soon as possible since memories fade quickly. Getting a witness on the record as soon as possible might help to ensure that their statements are accurate.

Locate and review accident video material. Some cars are equipped with dash cameras, which capture the crash. In other circumstances, an attorney may learn that film of the collision was taken by a traffic camera or a security camera. This kind of proof may be quite useful in determining fault.

Seek the advice of an expert witness. An expert witness may often give a unique viewpoint that can assist in determining precisely what factors contributed to your accident and, as a consequence, who is responsible for the accident.

Experts may also assist an attorney in determining the extent of a client’s injuries. They may do so by projecting the client’s future medical requirements or assessing the amount of money the client will lose due to the accident over time.

Acting in Your Interest

An attorney acts as your representation when dealing with insurance companies, defense lawyers, and the court system. During the case, they may interact with all three, including:

The insurance company has made an initial settlement offer. You may get a settlement offer from the other party’s insurance company soon after your accident—sometimes even before your first operation if it isn’t an emergency. Be aware that this offer is seldom the whole amount you are entitled to for your injury.

Instead, this is an effort by the insurance company to reduce its financial liability by persuading you to take less money than you truly need to pay for your surgery and other accident-related expenditures.

Accepting this offer without first consulting an attorney is a bad idea.

The overall picture is what an expert truck accident injury lawyer sees. They can assess a settlement offer and tell you whether it meets your short- and long-term financial goals. Knowing you have an attorney on your side might sometimes persuade the insurance company to make a better offer.

The “requirement.” An attorney will normally issue a “demand” to the person or parties who are legally responsible for your injuries at some time. This might be in the form of a letter to that party, its insurance, or its defense counsel, or it can be in the form of a court file that begins a damages action.

Negotiation stages. Following the attorney’s petition for compensation on your behalf, they will frequently meet with representatives of the legally culpable party to examine the merits of your claim and the amount of money you should get.

A mediator may be used to assist facilitate such sessions. Typically, these conversations result in a beneficial settlement in which you relieve the other party from obligation in return for a monetary payment.

Court. When parties cannot reach an agreement on a settlement, the matter will go to trial. A skilled truck accident attorney is always ready to fight in court. They have the knowledge and resources to represent you in court and explain to a judge and jury why you are entitled to the greatest amount of compensation.

These are just a few of the services that an attorney may give to a truck accident victim who has been wounded. Every case is unique, as is a lawyer’s function. On the other hand, attorneys representing accident victims have one goal in mind: to represent the wounded victims’ best interests to get the greatest financial settlement possible.

In another way, attorneys fight to ensure that you can afford the operations you need.

Step 2: Speak with your insurance provider.

With an attorney, maybe your health insurance provider is one of the most crucial resources for paying medical expenditures. Contact your health insurance provider as soon as possible after your accident to inform them of the situation. (Your medical practitioner may have already informed them.) You may have to:

Describe the accident’s circumstances. Your insurance provider may inquire as to who caused or contributed to your accident, as well as the circumstances surrounding it. Suppose you collect compensation for your injuries and expenditures from a legally accountable person. In that case, your health insurance company may be entitled to reimbursement for some of the expenses it spent on your behalf via a legal procedure known as subrogation. An attorney can describe the process in further depth.

Confirm the extent of your insurance policy. Many individuals wait until they need their health insurance to read the small print. What exactly does your insurance cover? For the following, you may need to inquire about copays and deductibles:

Specific surgical procedures

Hospitalization

Doctor’s appointments, including follow-up appointments

Medical devices and long-lasting mobility assistance

Physical and occupational therapy

It would be best if you also inquired about the amount of coverage you will get for certain types of treatment, such as physical therapy when recovering from surgery. Some insurance providers, for example, will only cover a set amount of physical therapy appointments per year. Confirm this information ahead of time so you can make educated medical choices.

Remember to include your injury protection (MedPay) policy. Medical payments coverage (MedPay) insurance is required in various states. After a motor accident, MedPay acts as the main coverage to pay for medical and disability-related expenditures. Although you presumably already know whether you have MedPay coverage, an attorney can notify your MedPay insurance provider of your injury and explain why you need reimbursement.

Step 3: Discuss Payment with Your Medical Providers

Your surgeon understands that paying for surgery, particularly unexpected surgery, may be challenging for the ordinary accident victim. While your surgeon has expenses to consider, such as paying an office staff wage and keeping the office open, your surgeon or surgical center may be willing to negotiate with you on prices if you can communicate your financial requirements and limits ahead of time. (This is when the letters mentioned above of protection come in help.) There’s a lot more than you can do:

Check with the hospital to see what services are available to assist with care. Many hospitals provide programs to assist pay some or all of the costs of your medical care, particularly if you are low-income or have injuries that may need long-term therapy and care.

To find out more about the hospital’s programs, contact them directly. If you can postpone your surgery, you may choose to call more than one local hospital and get bids to determine the most cost-effective location for your procedure. Even if you speak with the hospital, you may need to contact medical providers if you get different invoices.

Make a payment plan or a payment arrangement. Many medical providers, including hospitals, will not send your account to collections if you continue to make payments in good faith. Make plans to enable you to make monthly payments toward your operation, even if they are minor.

This may be useful in bridging the gap between the operation and your financial capacity to pay. You may need to contact each provider you owe to make these payment arrangements.

Dealing with intricate payment arrangements following a medical operation may be stressful and difficult for anybody. Patients who have sustained catastrophic injuries already have a lot on their plates managing their recovery.

Contact an experienced personal injury attorney as soon as possible if you need assistance with the chores connected with paying your medical costs, particularly pursuing compensation from the entity that caused your injuries. You may not be aware of your rights, but our responsibility is to inform you!

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