How to Pay Your Medical Bills After Being Injured in a Car Accident

Medical bills begin to add up quickly after being injured in a car accident.  Many people believe when their injury was caused by someone else’s negligence, their bills should not be submitted to health insurance.  To make things worse, medical providers often encourage the non-submission of bills, either due to a lack of understanding as to how third party injury claims work in Nebraska, or simply because not submitting the bills to health insurance serves the provider’s own self interest.

If you have been injured in an accident in Nebraska, you want your medical bills to be submitted to your health insurance carrier.  In Nebraska, as stated in Neb. Rev. Stat. Section 52-401, “The measure of damages for medical expenses in personal injury claims shall be the private party rate, not the discounted amount”.  This means that even though the injured party receives the benefit of their health insurance carrier’s contractual adjustment with the medical provider, their injury attorney can still claim the entire amount of the medical bills charged when negotiating their claim or later on at trial.

Long story short, submitting your bills to health insurance serves two important purposes: (1) it helps to pay the outstanding balances in a timely manner, so as to keep you from being sent to collections and (2) it allows you to take advantage of contractual adjustments negotiated by your health insurance carrier.  In addition to the reasons stated above, there can be other huge advantages to submitting your bills to health insurance depending on the nature and extent of your injuries, as well as the relevant auto insurance coverage that is available.  In some circumstances the health insurance provider will be forced to waive its asserted right of subrogation, meaning you will not need to reimburse the health insurance company out of your injury settlement or verdict for bills it paid for your accident-related injuries.  If you have been injured in a car accident in Nebraska make sure to provide all of your medical care providers with your health insurance information.