Is your Auto Insurance Policy Built for Rising Healthcare Costs?

Hiring a personal injury attorney at Vrana Law Firm can help get maximum recovery as healthcare expenses rise
As healthcare and treatment costs continue to increase, there are actions you can take to safeguard your family against the financial impact of accident injuries.

You aren’t imagining it…You ARE spending more on healthcare. According to the National Health Expenditure Accounts (NHEA), healthcare spending across the nation grew 9.7% and averaged more than $12,000 per person in 2020. A benchmarking report conducted for Arizona residents showed plan deductibles have doubled since 2017 and the median cost increase for employers in 2021 was 4%. An effect of these rising costs is a widening gap in auto coverage (this can be said of other policy types, such as homeowners, but here we’ll specifically address auto insurance).

How do you protect your pockets and ensure you can afford the care you need if injured? Let’s start with a look at how parties are reimbursed after an accident. The first line of funding typically is an at-fault party’s auto policy, which as of 2020 in Arizona includes a minimum liability coverage of $25,000 per person or $50,000 per accident (to be shared among all injured parties). You can count on this minimum unless the at-fault driver is uninsured. If you’re lucky, they understand the value in mitigating their own risk and have opted for a higher limit.  

Unfortunately, liability coverage often isn’t enough to pay for moderate to severe injuries or long-term treatments, lost wages, etc. Ways to protect yourself against overages include uninsured and underinsured motorist policies, medical payments insurance, and a quality health insurance plan. 

  1. Increase your Uninsured Motorist (UM) and Underinsured Motorist (UIM) policy limits
    This helps cover the gap if the at-fault party doesn’t have enough insurance (UIM) or any insurance at all (UM). Once the other driver’s policy maximum is hit, you can draw funds from your own UIM policy to address medical costs. 
  2. Consider medical payments coverage (Med-Pay). While some no-fault states offer personal injury protection (PIP) plans, Arizona is an at fault state, known as a tort state. This means someone is always found at fault, or more commonly, fault is shared by parties at certain percentages. Insurance companies offer Med-Pay as a means of covering potential hospital and medical bills after an injury. Unfortunately, this coverage tends not to be as protective as PIP options offered in no-fault states; It doesn’t address at-home assistance or lost wages during recovery and won’t cover some unregulated treatments or pre-existing conditions. However, this is accessible immediately no matter who is at fault.
  3. You can use your health insurance, but you might hit coverage restrictions and higher out-of-pocket fees. Even with great coverage, Arizonans are finding increasing amounts of their income and savings redirected to medical bills after an accident. Additionally, health insurance providers often attempt to recoup costs through subrogation, a reimbursement awarded from the money collected in your settlement.

A frequently underestimated benefit of enlisting a personal injury attorney is the added support in negotiating down medical and other bills to put more money in your pocket after settlement.  With more than thirty years of combined personal injury practice among our attorney team, Vrana Law Firm is highly experienced in working with Phoenix-area and statewide providers to delay and reduce your payments. Additionally, it’s important to avoid common pitfalls that leave injured claimants with a larger bill-to-settlement ratio:

  • Accepting an insufficient claim offer. If an insurance provider’s client is found at fault for your injuries, expect their first offer could be lower than medical costs and wages lost in recovery. An insurance adjuster cannot offer you more than the policy maximum, and often will shoot much lower to start. If you accept the offer, you’ll be made to release all parties from further liability and give up more compensation down the line. A good way to ensure you get the maximum offer is to engage a personal injury attorney who understands insurance practices and how to negotiate on your behalf. 
  • Not carrying enough coverage. There isn’t much you can do if the person at fault chose the minimum required policy, but you can plan for this by supplementing with your own coverages mentioned above. You can also carry higher liability coverage limits on your policy in the unfortunate event you become the at-fault party. Many people don’t know it’s possible for injury claimants to go after your assets in the event your liability insurance falls short of their expenses. 
  • Settling too early. Complications from accident injuries can and do creep up months afterward. Accepting an insurance offer too early could mean missing out on the chance to seek full reimbursement for costs related to longer term injuries.

It’s MUCH harder to get the money you are owed after accepting an offer; in fact, it’s nearly impossible. However, if you have accepted an offer, your chances of making up the balance are not impossible. By seeking liability coverage through other involved parties or challenging a claim release, some claimants can further protect themselves after accepting an earlier offer. We’ve also successfully pursued UIM coverage in limited situations like this. It will be even more important to seek counsel from an attorney on options and proceedings in this circumstance. 

A Vrana Law Firm attorney reviews any inquiries made to our office, and our consultations are free. Other firms sometimes sign you up using an intake specialist who isn’t an attorney and can’t provide the same expertise. We want you to understand your options with a fair and transparent evaluation. If that means you’re better off with different firm or pursuing reimbursement another way, we’ll be honest about it. We can even assist with medical provider recommendations based on your injuries, all at no cost to you. When you sign with Vrana Law Firm, you won’t owe us anything until we settle your case. 

For additional questions or to discuss a possible case, call us at 480-359-6002 or email us today.

A frequently underestimated benefit of enlisting a personal injury attorney is the added support in negotiating down medical and other bills to put more money in your pocket after settlement.  With more than thirty years of combined personal injury practice among our attorney team, Vrana Law Firm is highly experienced in working with Phoenix-area and statewide providers to delay and reduce your payments. Additionally, it’s important to avoid common pitfalls that leave injured claimants with a larger bill-to-settlement ratio:

  • Accepting an insufficient claim offer. If an insurance provider’s client is found at fault for your injuries, expect their first offer could be lower than medical costs and wages lost in recovery. An insurance adjuster cannot offer you more than the policy maximum, and often will shoot much lower to start. If you accept the offer, you’ll be made to release all parties from further liability and give up more compensation down the line. A good way to ensure you get the maximum offer is to engage a personal injury attorney who understands insurance practices and how to negotiate on your behalf. 
  • Not carrying enough coverage. There isn’t much you can do if the person at fault chose the minimum required policy, but you can plan for this by supplementing with your own coverages mentioned above. You can also carry higher liability coverage limits on your policy in the unfortunate event you become the at-fault party. Many people don’t know it’s possible for injury claimants to go after your assets in the event your liability insurance falls short of their expenses.
  • Settling too early. Complications from accident injuries can and do creep up months afterward. Accepting an insurance offer too early could mean missing out on the chance to seek full reimbursement for costs related to longer term injuries.

It’s MUCH harder to get the money you are owed after accepting an offer; in fact, it’s nearly impossible. However, if you have accepted an offer, your chances of making up the balance are not impossible. By seeking liability coverage through other involved parties or challenging a claim release, some claimants can further protect themselves after accepting an earlier offer. We’ve also successfully pursued UIM coverage in limited situations like this. It will be even more important to seek counsel from an attorney on options and proceedings in this circumstance. 

A Vrana Law Firm attorney reviews any inquiries made to our office, and our consultations are free. Other firms sometimes sign you up using an intake specialist who isn’t an attorney and can’t provide the same expertise. We want you to understand your options with a fair and transparent evaluation. If that means you’re better off with different firm or pursuing reimbursement another way, we’ll be honest about it. We can even assist with medical provider recommendations based on your injuries, all at no cost to you. When you sign with Vrana Law Firm, you won’t owe us anything until we settle your case. 

For additional questions or to discuss a possible case, call us at 480-359-6002 or email us today.