Collecting Personal Injury Damages for Hospital Fees
Whether a person is injured in a car accident, workplace accident, slip and fall, or some other type of event, they are likely to require medical care. More catastrophic injuries may require hospitalization and/or surgery, both of which can be extremely costly. As injury victims undergo treatment and start to receive bills, they are likely to wonder who is responsible for covering hospital fees related to a personal injury.
Personal injury lawyer Ihab Ibrahim works with injury victims in the Jersey City, NJ, area to hold liable parties accountable for the economic and non-economic damages of an accident. However, there are some things that injury victims should understand about how hospital fees will be paid, and who is ultimately responsible.
Who Pays for Hospital Fees?
Generally speaking, no matter how obvious it may be that another person or party is responsible for an accident, the injury victim is responsible for paying their own medical bills or hospital fees as they come in. The exceptions to this are cases involving a car accident in a no-fault state, or those involving a workers’ compensation claim.
New Jersey is one of the few states with no-fault insurance laws. In no-fault insurance states, each driver's own insurance covers the cost of medical treatment following an accident. Insurance companies should begin covering medical expenses immediately, and should continue to do so until the state’s no-fault limit has been met. At that point, the injury victim is responsible for paying the remainder of hospital fees.
If an accident occurs at work, a workers’ compensation claim should be filed immediately. The workers’ compensation insurer should cover the cost of all hospital fees or medical expenses related to the accident. Injury victims should not be responsible for any deductibles, and there should be no limit on coverage.
Hospital Fees and Personal Injury Settlements
Although personal injury victims are responsible for paying their hospital fees as they come in, that doesn’t mean that liable parties cannot ultimately be held accountable for the damages they cause. Victims can file a personal injury claim to pursue financial compensation for hospital fees and other economic and non-economic losses related to their injuries. When pursuing a personal injury claim for our Jersey City clients, we take into account all hospital fees and medical expenses, including:
- Cost of a hospital stay
- Ambulance fee
- Surgery fee
- Cost of prescription medication
- Cost of necessary therapy and/or rehabilitation
- Cost of assistive medical devices (crutches, walker, wheelchair, etc.)
What About Future Hospital Fees?
When injuries are severe, our Jersey City clients may require additional medical care or treatment in the future. When those bills come in, they will be responsible for paying them. However, when working on a personal injury settlement, Ihab Ibrahim accounts for all potential future medical expenses. He gathers the patient’s medical records and collects expert witness testimony to anticipate the amount of hospital fees that may be incurred in the future. He then pursues a settlement that appropriately accounts for past and future expenses, so that his clients will have the money necessary to cover the cost of medical care as it is required.
Contact Us
If you or a loved one has been injured in an accident, you may feel like you are drowning in medical expenses. To find out how personal injury lawyer Ihab Ibrahim can assist you in getting reimbursed for hospital fees and other losses, we invite you to schedule a personal consultation at our law firm. To get started, send us a message online, or call us at (855) 529-0030.
