Does Motorcycle Insurance Cover Medical Bills After an Accident?
There are two times to ask this question: the right time and the wrong time. The right time to ask this question is when you’re buying insurance. Then you can make sure to buy the insurance that will cover your injuries after an accident. The wrong time to ask this question is when you’ve been involved in a motorcycle accident and are trying to figure out how you’re going to pay your medical bills.
So, does motorcycle insurance cover medical bills? Maybe. It depends on what coverage you bought and how much.
Minimum Motorcycle Insurance Coverage in Colorado
In Colorado, as in most other states, insurance is required to legally operate a motorcycle. The minimum coverage you must have to legally operate your motorcycle on Colorado streets and highways is:
- $25,000 in bodily injury per person
- $50,000 in total bodily injury per accident
- $15,000 in property damage per accident
However, this coverage is liability coverage. It doesn’t pay for your medical expenses, only the bills of other people injured in the accident if you are determined to be at fault. This coverage will not pay for your medical expenses. Instead, you have to count on the at-fault party to have insurance that will cover your medical bills.
Purchasing Coverage for Your Medical Bills
If you want your motorcycle insurance to cover your medical bills, you will need to purchase more coverage than the minimum. You have two different options to make sure your medical bills are paid after a motorcycle accident:
- Uninsured motorist coverage – This insurance will trigger if you are in a motorcycle accident and the at-fault motorist either has no insurance or doesn’t have enough insurance to cover your expenses.
- Medical payments coverage – This insurance can always trigger after an accident where you are injured. The insurance covers injuries to you and your passenger, even if the accident is your fault.
Although medical payments coverage is not mandatory, in Colorado your insurance provider will add it to your policy automatically unless you request to remove it in writing. When purchasing insurance, make sure you understand what is covered. In some cases, coverage may extend only to medical bills and not to related damages such as loss of earnings, pain and suffering, and diminished quality of life.
Paying the Bills
When you have medical bills after a motorcycle accident, your health insurance will start out covering the expenses. Unfortunately, this may mean a significant amount of out-of-pocket expenses, depending on your deductibles.
Your motorcycle insurance payment will likely be slow, and the other driver’s insurance payment might be even slower. They might even try to avoid payment by claiming that the accident was either your fault or was no-one’s fault. In these situations, having a motorcycle accident lawyer on your side can help. A lawyer can encourage insurance companies to pay the full amount you’re owed under either your coverage or the other driver’s coverage.
In addition, a motorcycle accident lawyer can help you negotiate your expenses so that you can keep more of the money you receive after your accident. Insurance companies and medical providers often charge higher prices than strictly necessary. Smart negotiation can reduce your costs to help your insurance payments to stretch further.
Why Choose Denver Motorcycle Accident Attorney Brian Pushchak
At Pushchak Law, we understand the complications related to motorcycle accidents. We understand that you may have many expenses to deal with, and not a lot of income to handle them. To help us deliver better results to our motorcycle accident clients, we have made these cases a specialization of our practice. When you hire Brian Pushchak, you are hiring a dedicated, experienced, and focused Denver motorcycle accident lawyer.
In addition, you’ll benefit from our Informed Decisions™ Approach. This approach is focused not just on getting the most money after your lawsuit, it’s about helping you get back to your life as it was before the accident. We will start by listening to your hopes and needs after your motorcycle accident. This helps us understand your top priorities. There are many strategies for pursuing motorcycle accident claims, and we won’t know which one is best for you until we know your personal goals.
Once we start working for you, we will give you our personal contact information so you can get in touch with us whenever you have questions or concerns about the progress of your case. Although we will bring the full weight of our expertise to handle it, the case always remains yours. You are in charge and will always be able to make the final decisions.
To learn how our focus on motorcycle accidents can help you get better results, please contact Pushchak Law today for a free initial consultation. We serve clients in Denver and the surrounding areas of Colorado.
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