After a car accident, one of the first questions that may come to mind is: “How will I pay for this?”
Particularly if you were seriously injured, you may be worried about medical expenses, which can add up quickly.
Fortunately, different types of insurance are designed to cover these costs. Knowing which you should rely on, though, can be confusing.
In this post, we show you what your options are and explain when it is best to use various ones. Our Virginia Beach car accident attorneys are always standing by to help if you would need more information or if you’d like to discuss filing an accident claim.
Types of Insurance Coverage for Auto Accidents
Auto insurance policies differ in what they cover, with each designed to protect you in different situations. Here are the most common types that you will want to understand.
1. Medical Payment (Med Pay) Coverage
Med Pay is a type of no-fault coverage you may carry on your Virginia auto insurance policy. Virginia requires that auto insurance companies offer medical payment plans for at least $2,000 of coverage.
With Med Pay, even if you are responsible for the accident, you can use this coverage to pay for your medical expenses. This is different from at-fault claims, where you would file a claim with the insurance company covering the driver who caused the accident.
Med Pay is designed to pay for immediate medical costs, hospital visits, X-rays, and surgery, without requiring a deductible or copay. It may also cover other services such as chiropractic care. It can be a quick solution to cover medical bills but is usually capped around $5,000 or $10,000. It is a safety-net type of coverage, but there are times when you will want to be cautious using it. (See below.)
2. Primary Liability Insurance
This type of auto insurance is mandatory in most states, including Virginia. This is the insurance you buy to cover damages you cause to others or their property in a car accident. If you are at fault for the accident, your primary liability insurance will pay for the victim’s damages up to the limits of your coverage.
Primary liability insurance includes two main types of coverage:
- Bodily Injury Liability: Covers injuries to other people, including medical bills and lost wages.
- Property Damage Liability: Covers damages to another person’s property, such as their vehicle or structure.
Virginia requires minimum coverage amounts for this type of insurance. If you get higher coverage limits, they will cost more, but will better protect you in case of a serious accident.
3. Uninsured and Underinsured Motorist Coverage
This is another type of coverage on your own auto insurance policy that protects you if you are in an accident with a driver who does not have any insurance or does not have enough to cover your damages. Virginia is an “at-fault” state, which means that the person who caused the accident has to pay the damages. If the at-fault driver, however, lacks adequate insurance coverage, you could be facing unpaid bills or inadequate compensation for your injuries.
- Uninsured Motorist Coverage (UM): Protects you if the driver has no insurance. Covers your medical expenses, lost wages, and pain and suffering.
- Underinsured Motorist Coverage (UIM): Provides extra coverage if the at-fault driver’s insurance does not cover all your expenses/compensation.
These coverages are designed to increase your compensation if you are in an accident with someone who does not have the adequate auto insurance.
Why Regular Health Insurance Is the Best First Choice
In addition to coverage from your auto insurance policy, you also have medical coverage through your regular health insurance policy. Which should you use to pay for your medical expenses?
It is usually best to rely on your health insurance first when paying for your medical expenses after an auto accident. Here’s why:
- Comprehensive coverage and higher limits: Your health insurance will cover a wider range of treatments and services than Med Pay, and will have higher coverage limits. When you use your health insurance first, you preserve Med Pay for later needs or secondary expenses. Furthermore, if your bills have been paid, Med Pay can go directly into your bank account.
- No immediate out-of-pocket costs: Health insurance usually does not require you to pay anything upfront, except perhaps for a low copay. With Med Pay, you may need to pay upfront and then file for reimbursement.
- Subrogation—some health insurance plans can recover costs from Med Pay: Subrogation means your health insurance provider can pay your expenses, and then recover the costs of your treatment from Med Pay or other insurance settlements related to the accident. This approach can stretch your coverage further.
- Better management of health care services: Health insurance providers have established networks and systems in place to help manage all your care, from emergency treatment to follow-up therapies. When you use your health insurance first, it gives you access to a better continuity of care.
- Preservation of Med Pay for deductibles and copays: By saving your Med Pay funds, you can use them to cover additional expenses like deductibles and copays, as well as other treatments your regular health insurance may not cover.
- Med Pay may impact settlement negotiations positively: If you hold off on Med Pay, that can maximize any settlement you may receive in a personal injury claim. If you have medical expenses already covered by your regular health insurance, you can save your Med Pay coverage for other things, and potentially realize a higher payout in a settlement.
Can You “Stack” Insurance Coverage Types?
You may have more than one type of insurance that could apply in your car accident. Does that mean you can use only one, or can you receive benefits from more than one?
Virginia law allows policyholders to “stack” some types of coverage in certain situations. It is called stacking insurance and it became law in Virginia in 2023.
For example, you may be able to stack UM and UIM coverage on top of the at-fault driver’s liability insurance. If you have $50,000 in UIM coverage and the at-fault driver has $30,000 in liability coverage, you could receive a total of $80,000 to cover your losses.
Insurance companies may try to deny your claim, however, so it is best to talk to your car accident attorney for help in negotiating with them.
How Can a Car Accident Attorney Help?
Determining the compensation you may be owed from the various types of insurance coverage you have can be complicated. Negotiating with the insurance companies involved can also be tricky, as these companies care about their bottom lines and will often do what they can to reduce your payout.
If you or a loved one was seriously injured or killed in a car accident, contact our firm today for a free initial consultation. We can help maximize your chances of securing the compensation you deserve, as we did this federal worker who suffered neck and other injuries in a car crash. We helped negotiate a $930,000 settlement for him in that case.
Named a “Best Law Firm” since 2010, we have offices in Virginia Beach, Chesapeake, Portsmouth, Hampton, and Norfolk.