Many of my Portland car accident clients have heard the term "PIP Coverage." Very few know what this very important component of their insurance coverage is and how it works.
PIP stands for personal injury protection, and it is a special type of Oregon insurance coverage that is designed to cover your medical expenses when you've been in an accident. It is paid by your insurer regardless of who was at fault in the car accident. A payment made to the car wreck victim by that driver's own insurer is often referred to as a "first party insurance payment." If someone else was at fault for your car accident, you can also seek to trigger the at-fault driver's personal injury protection coverage.
PIP coverage is mandatory for Oregon drivers and it is a valuable coverage if you have suffered car accident related injuries. All auto insurance policies in Oregon contain a minimum of $10,000 in PIP coverage that must last for up to a year. In a wrongful death case, personal injury protection coverage can cover funeral and burial expenses for a loved one lost in a fatal car accident. PIP also covers up to 52 weeks of wage loss up to $1250 per month for a car accident victim.
If you are one of the many Portland residents who commute by bicycle, your car insurance PIP protection should cover your personal injuries is you are struck by a car. Same thing goes for pedestrians who are hit in crosswalks or trying to cross the road. If you do not have a car or car insurance, the driver's PIP coverage should cover medical expenses related to your injury.
If your insurance company pays out PIP benefits on your behalf after a car accident that was caused by the fault of another driver, your insurance company can seek what is called subrogation from the insurance company for the driver who caused the auto accident. That means your insurance can be paid back by the other driver's company for the medical expense payments your insurance company made on your behalf.
Pretty simple, right? Not always. PIP is required to cover all of a car accident victim's medical expenses provided they are reasonable and related to the accident. If you are trying to represent yourself in getting personal injury protection coverage, the terms "reasonable and related" are terms you've probably heard about over and over.
As you can imagine, insurance companies often look at victims of car accidents who don't have legal representation and see an opportunity. The opportunity they see is to save money by denying you the rightful benefits you deserve, benefits you need to make as full a recovery as possible.
Insurance companies who are trying to avoid paying out benefits often argue that a particular course of treatment went on too long or was unnecessary in the first place. Your insurance company (or the driver who caused the car accident) may also argue that you were seeking treatment for a pre-existing or different injury, one that was unrelated to the auto accident.
If the insurance company believes your course of treatment was not reasonable or not related, they can ask you to go see an insurance company doctor. Guess what his opinion typically is?
Oftentimes, the best course of action when you've been injured in a car accident caused by someone is to cut out the middleman and pursue the other driver's coverage immediately. It can cut out layers of administrative hassle and get the issues on the table from the beginning.
If you were the at-fault driver and your insurance carrier is denying coverage, you may be required to file a lawsuit or an arbitration to get the coverage you deserve.
Sometimes your medical expenses will exceed your personal injury protection coverage even when the insurance company doesn't give you a hassle. In this scenario, the tab is either picked up by your health insurance carrier, or if you don't have health insurance, it gets billed directly to you. In the latter scenario, an aggressive Oregon auto accident injury attorney can negotiate with the hospitals and try to get them to wait for payment until your case has been resolved.
If you have been injured in an accident, treating your injuries should be priority number one. An experienced Portland auto accident attorney can assist you in recovering the full amount of PIP benefits that you are entitled to. Obtaining the benefits that are rightfully owed to you can be critical in making a full recovery and focusing on getting back to your normal life. Once your course of treatment has been as much of a success as it can be, an accident injury lawyer can then help you recover for pain and suffering, additional wage loge and medicals and, sometimes, punitive damages related to your auto accident claim.
Sarah Nelson is a top rated Portland female car accident injury lawyer. She was one of a handful of female injury lawyers named one of Oregon's top plaintiff's personal injury lawyers, and she is one of a very few female auto wreck attorneys rated as "Excellent" by the independent rating agency avvo.com. She provides free initial legal consultations in-home or in-hospital when necessary.