Good Question. Not so easy to answer without knowing your specific facts, but your best course – if you have questions – is to call an attorney and find out. Here’s some advice to help you get started.
- First, unpaid medical bills are one of the first problems that accident victims confront.
- Health insurance, if you have it, should almost always be used. Some providers try to prevent you from submitting your bills to the health insurance carrier (they get paid more if they can collect on the auto insurance). Don’t fall for it. It’s illegal for them to violate their provider contracts in a health insurance network, and you are entitled to the benefits of adjusted medical bills that you paid for.
- Also, medical pay coverage on your auto insurance will pay medical bills without regard to fault, and pretty quickly, which may initially sound good, but there are strategies you can use to apply medical pay coverage on your deductibles and copayments. You’ll need an experienced attorney to get that strategy implemented (see point #2 below).
- Finally, a good attorney (see point #2) will get the unpaid bills sorted out, paid by the right parties, and get agreements to defer collection on any unpaid bills.
- Second (and this is point #2), hire a lawyer who’s experienced and knows what they are doing.
- This is a specialized area of law that many lawyers dabble in. To get the level of service you need and deserve, here are two excellent screens. First, does the law firm have an attorney certified as a Civil Trial Specialist by the National Board of Trial Advocacy? Few South Dakota attorneys have achieved this level of recognition for their skills. These are the elite attorneys when it comes to representing victims of auto accidents. Lee Schoenbeck is one of those few.
- Another good screen is to ask the attorney that you are talking to: How many jury trials have you tried to verdict where you represented an injured person? You’ll be shocked to know that for most of the attorneys you talk to, even though they claim to do this type of legal work – the answer is ZERO! They should be able to give you the names of cases and the dates of verdicts – so you can check them out. We can, and many of those are already listed on our website for you to review.
If you are reading this because you have been injured, we regret that you have to go through the experience. If you think you need questions answered by an attorney, please call.