Why You Should Know What Med Pay Is and Why It Matters
If you’ve never heard of “med pay” in the context of auto insurance, please read carefully, as this supplemental coverage for auto insurance policies provides major benefits if you are ever involved in an auto accident.
Med Pay is short for medical payment coverage and is supplemental insurance coverage that provides a certain level of reimbursement for medical expenses you and any passengers in your vehicle may suffer from because of an auto accident. Med pay provides medical coverage benefits regardless of fault and provides many other additional benefits.
Med pay coverage
Med pay allows you to submit your medical bills under the med pay provisions of your auto insurance policy to be paid directly by your insurance company. Most policies only cover up to $25,000.00 intended to cover immediate medical expenses.
Keep in mind, adding med pay coverage to your existing policy can be as inexpensive as a couple of extra dollars per month and can provide significant benefit if you are injured in an auto accident. Med pay should not be confused with health insurance. Whereas med pay does cover medical bills in most scenarios, health insurance should be your primary insurance policy should you need extensive medical care in connection with an auto accident. It is important to have a health insurance policy for your everyday medical care and not confuse the two types of policies.
Does Med Pay cover multiple vehicles?
No. Med pay is coverage that needs to be purchased for each vehicle. However, med pay does follow the policy holder, so regardless of whether you are involved in an accident as a passenger in another car, you will be covered by your policy. Med pay can also be beneficial for individuals driving for ride-sharing companies, as your med pay coverage can cover your passengers, if and when necessary.
How is Med Pay different than Personal Injury Protection (PIP)?
Med pay and PIP may seem to provide the same coverage, however, they are very distinct policies. Where med pay solely covers medical related expenses, PIP is a more comprehensive policy, and therefore costlier. PIP policies provide coverage for medical expenses, rehabilitative and psychiatric services, as well as documented losses such as lost wages. In “no-fault” states, PIP is mandatory. As of 2003, Colorado is no longer a no-fault state and therefore, PIP coverage is no longer mandatory.
The bottom line
If your auto insurance policy is not already equipped with med pay, consider contacting your auto insurance agent about adding this coverage to your policy. More importantly, if your policy does include med pay, and you’ve recently been injured in an auto accident, contact Alhasoon, Glidden and Glidden top personal injury lawyers in Denver. Request a comprehensive review of your auto coverage and insurance benefits to make sure the insurance companies are paying you what you are owed!
