Myth: It Was The Other Driver’s Fault, So His Insurance Must Immediately Start Paying Your Medical Bills
Even if the other driver was clearly at fault for a motorcycle crash, the other driver’s insurance has no legal obligation to pay for the injured biker’s medical bills until ordered to do so by a judge after a trial. Even if the other driver’s insurance immediately admits fault and claims that it will cover the injured biker’s medical bills, most insurance corporations will only issue one settlement check for an injury claim.
That one settlement check will have to cover all of the injured biker’s harms and losses (including past and future medical bills, lost wages, pain and suffering, etc.). In order to get that one settlement check, the other driver’s insurance corporation will require the injured biker to sign settlement paperwork saying that it has no responsibility for paying any additional money in the future for that particular motorcycle accident. That means the other driver’s insurance usually does not start paying your medical bills after a motorcycle accident until you are willing to settle your complete injury claim with them once and for all.
How can an injured biker get accident-related medical bills paid until he or she is ready to settle?
In the short term, a motorcycle accident victim should submit his or her medical bills to:
- His or her own health insurance company
- His or her own auto insurance policy (if the biker carries medical payment coverage)
- His or her employer’s workers’ compensation insurance company (if the wreck occurred while the biker was on the job)
One of the most common mistakes that injured bikers make is to allow accident-related medical bills to go unpaid when they have other insurance that would cover them. You can always repay your insurance company after settlement but it is difficult to rebuild a credit rating that has been ruined by unhappy creditors while waiting for a settlement check to arrive from the other driver’s insurance corporation.
To find out the rest of the 6 Dangerous Myths about Iowa motorcycle accident claims, use the form to the right to download the entire Legal Insider’s Guide to Iowa Motorcycle Accident Claims.