Recovery of Medical Expenses After an Accident

After an injury involving a car accident, the average cost of medical bills incurred by an injured motorist is more than $15,000.  If prolonged hospitalization or treatment is required, those costs could easily exceed $100,000.  With thousands of such accidents each year, it is estimated that more than $44 Billion is spent each year paying for medical bills after car accidents.  

In Illinois, those responsible for a car accident are required to pay the medical bills of injured motorists, as well as other types of losses including lost wages, pain and suffering, loss of normal life, disfigurement and more.  As for medical bills, there are many avenues to immediately pay for expensive medical care including the use of medical liens, Med Pay insurance and even health insurance.  Ultimately, Illinois courts have ruled that the at-fault driver (i.e. the driver that causes an accident) is responsible to pay for all reasonable medical bills incurred during an accident.  This includes not only what a health insurance might pay at a reduced rate, but the full amount of all bills incurred by an injury victim.  

Insurance companies have long sought to change this rule and limit the compensation to accident victims.  Short of that, insurance companies employ several tricks to limit the medical bills paid – including suggesting that treatment was unnecessary, related to a unrelated condition or too expensive.  Several insurance companies have employed teams of quasi-experts they refer to as “billing specialists” to create reports tied to the relatively low cost of Medicare payment rates to support decreasing medical bills by as much as 90% in some instances.  While the experienced injury attorneys at Feagans Law Group have successfully prevented this evidence from being used at trial, proactive steps are required at the early stages of any lawsuit to ensure fair compensation is not delayed for injury victims and their families.  This includes the use of legitimate medical billing professionals, including doctors, nurses and patient advocates as well as evidence from medical groups, hospitals and other providers as to what the usual and customary rates for medical services are in Illinois. 

 Guiding Your Path to Justice

If you and your family are concerned about the payment of medical bills following a car accident,  please consider allowing the attorneys at the Feagans Law Group to Guide Your Path to Justice.