Traffic accidents can be very scary. Whether this is your first time or you have been down this road before, there are a few things you should know as you make medical decisions going forward. This article will help you understand your options and what actions you should take promptly.
Should I Seek Immediate Medical Attention After a Car Wreck?
If you suspect you are injured as a result of an accident someone else caused, you should seek medical care immediately because some injuries do not manifest immediately, and insurance companies use delays and gaps in care against you.
Reasons for Unseen Injury or Delayed Feeling of Pain
The human body is an amazing work of art. It can protect and heal itself in many respects. As a result, we often blow off injuries and assume our body will heal itself with time and rest. Many times when a person suffers an injury in a car accident, however, the body has a difficult time healing by itself.
Injuries from auto collisions are extremely common. The forces involved in two 4000-5000 lb. vehicle collisions are immense, even at seemingly slow speeds. While manufacturers are doing more and more to design vehicles to take these impacts with less damage, the human body remains the same. It is not designed for the pulling, twisting, and tearing of muscles and ligaments that a whiplash injury can produce.
Do Whiplash Symptoms Appear Immediately After a Wreck?
Sometimes the effects of a whiplash injury aren’t fully realized right away. There are several reasons for this. First, muscle and ligament stretching and tearing trigger the body’s healing response. Your body begins to produce fluids in the damaged area. Swelling occurs at the injury site. As your body stiffens from these effects, you often begin to feel increasing discomfort. This may take hours or even days. Second, you may be in shock after an accident and/or have a surge of adrenaline that makes you less in tune with your body’s immediate condition.
What is Stress-Induced Analgesia Masking the Pain?
There is a condition known as ‘stress-induced analgesia‘ that sometimes occurs following the scare of an accident and enables an injured person to temporarily block out the pain mentally. When a person is in a very stressful situation, the body releases noradrenaline into the bloodstream. Noradrenaline a/k/a norepinephrine, is a hormone that acts as a neurotransmitter in the central nervous system and sympathetic nervous system that blocks the transmission of pain to the brain. When a person is ‘stressed out’ by an accident, they may block out the pain until later, when things calm down; noradrenaline levels return to normal, and the brain suddenly perceives the pain again.
If you suspect an injury or that your body is causing pain, seek immediate medical attention. Emergency rooms at hospitals, as well as independent centers, are a good place to start.
Adjusters Use Lack of Care to Deny or Low-Ball Claims
Another reason to seek necessary medical care promptly is that it will benefit you when filing an auto accident claim. Thanks to tort reform in this country, juries are very distrustful of people claiming injuries in auto collisions—particularly injuries that they cannot see objectively. Insurance adjusters know this. The more they can misguide you into not seeking care promptly and reasonably, the less your claim will be valued by jurors and adjusters. Additionally, many adjusters use computer software to analyze your claim. This software is an algorithm that adds to or subtracts from the settlement offer based on certain activities you took that they enter into the system. Here are some of the medical care mistakes they commonly deduct from your offer for:
- Not calling an ambulance
- Not going to a hospital from the scene
- Delays in seeking the initial medical care
- Delays in following up after the initial medical care
- Not following your doctor’s orders
- Missing scheduled appointments
- Gaps in your medical care
- Not filling prescriptions
- Seeking “alternative,” “holistic,” or “experimental” types of medical care
If you do not want to get treated unfairly, your best bet is to seek reasonable and appropriate medical care promptly for your injuries and follow the doctor’s orders. You should also consider consulting a personal injury attorney if you haven’t already.
Health Insurance Cover Auto Accident Injuries in Texas
Sometimes your health insurance will cover your medical bills after an auto accident in Texas, but sometimes it denies the claim. If you have health insurance that will cover your medical care, you should give this information to your medical providers. Failing to provide this information on time can result in delays and coverage denials.
Many people ask: “But why should my insurance have to pay when I did not cause the accident?”
When you are involved in an accident, health insurance policies may pay the bills upfront and seek reimbursement from a third-party insurance carrier and/or out of any settlement later. This is called insurance subrogation. If your health insurance company refuses to pay, you should consider contacting the Texas Board of Insurance and reporting them.
Caveat: Some medical providers (like many primary care physicians) refuse to see you under health insurance for certain types of accidents. They do this because some health insurers give them the runaround about paying when a third-party insurer is involved. Again, consider a complaint to the State Board of Insurance if this is happening to you.
Medicare and Medicaid Coverage for Auto Accident Injuries
Medicare specifically states in the statute and on its website that Medicare and Medicaid are secondary to any other insurance–including auto insurance and health insurance. Neither you nor your medical providers should file a claim through Medicare if another insurance company can cover the claim. However, Medicare sometimes pays for accident-related care by oversight. If this happens, Medicare will place a lien that you must resolve. Medicare will seek reimbursement out of any settlement or judgment you obtain. You have a legal obligation to reimburse it from any money recovered.
Medicaid generally pays for medical care upfront and then seeks reimbursement through subrogation. You have a legal obligation to reimburse them out of any money recovered. If your injuries are likely to require future medical care, Medicare will require you to make a Medicare set-aside to protect its future interest in not paying for something someone else owes.
Get a Consult With a Lawyer
If you have been injured in a car wreck and the bills are piling up or you simply do not know your options on getting the medical care you need, talk to a car accident attorney at Simmons and Fletcher, P.C., about your rights. The benefits of talking to a car accident lawyer include:
- All consultations are 100% free and confidential
- We offer Zoom and phone consultations to avoid fighting traffic, as well as electronic document sign-ups
- If you hire us, we work on a contingency fee basis – meaning you do not pay unless we make a recovery.
- We have helped car accident victims since 1979.
Call (713) 932-0777 to speak to a car accident attorney at Simmons and Fletcher, P.C. today.
FAQ's
Will the other driver's car insurance pay for my medical care as i get it?
The other party’s insurance company generally will not pay for your medical care as you receive treatment. They also won’t advise you on seeking care. More specifically, you should not ask for their advice on obtaining care because they owe a duty to their insured to keep your costs down, not to help you get better. Delays and gaps in your care will work to their benefit.
Your own insurance can help you pay for medical care as you go if you have personal injury protection or MedPay coverage. Both of these can help cover initial bills, copays, and deductibles for medical care. Be sure to check your coverage limits. They may be as low as $2,500, which means they are exhausted fast.
Howcan i get medical care after a craw wreck if I have no health insurance?
If you don’t have health insurance, PIP/MedPay, Medicare, or Medicaid, you can still get the medical care you need to recover from your injury. An attorney can issue a letter of protection (LOP) to medical providers who accept LOPs. A letter of protection is simply a letter promising that the bills will be paid out of any settlement or judgment obtained. If you recover nothing, however, the person receiving the treatment is still responsible for the bills.
