Car Insurance: Understanding Medical Payments Coverage
Are you contemplating adding medical payments coverage as part of your car insurance policy? Is it necessary or a mere waste of money? Does it have a substitute so that you don’t need to duplicate the policy? We shall attempt to answer all these questions in this article.
What is medical payments coverage?
Medical payments coverage is the type of car insurance that pays your medical expenses in case you or covered members of your family are involved in an auto accident. This does not have anything to do with whether you are the one at fault or not. We all know how expensive medical bills can be. In fact, medical expenses can take toll on your personal finance especially when you need to pay out of your pockets. Even, if you think you have built up enough cash in your emergency fund, paying huge medical expenses can easily drain whatever you have saved over time. That is why having medical payments coverage can be a good decision to make. In addition to paying your medical expenses if you are involved in a an auto accident, medical payments coverage also pays for the injuries that you suffered if you are hit while walking as a pedestrian or bicyclist by another car.
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Besides, medical payments coverage pays for the medical expenses of your passengers if they happen to sustain injuries in an accident. If the accident results to death, medical payments insurance also covers funeral expenses. Medical related issues that you should expect your medical payments coverage to pay for include necessary dental procedures resulting from a car accident, doctors or hospital visits, surgery and x-rays, prostheses, professional nursing services, emergency medical technicians (EMT) and ambulance fee. Can you now imagine what your medical bill can be if you have to pay from your pocket?
Is the medical payments insurance coverage compulsory? Medical payments coverage is not made compulsory. It is optional but if you live in no-fault state, you will need Personal Injury Protection (PIP) which is very close to medical payments coverage. So, if you are living in no-fault state, your car insurance must have covered your medical expenses in case of car accident. However, your Personal Injury Protection (PIP) may only provide you minimum coverage which may not be adequate. In this regard, you can choose to still buy medical payments insurance coverage or increase your Personal Injury Protection (PIP) coverage to the level that will be adequate for you. The advantage of combining Personal Injury Protection (PIP) with medical payments coverage is that, since Personal Injury Protection (PIP) will only pay you up to a certain limit, you can be reimbursed for the excess medical expenses under your medical expenses coverage.
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You may ask, why then should you need Personal Injury Protection (PIP) when it will not pay you all your claims if it is above a specific limit? There are two reasons you may need to consider. First, personal Injury Protection (PIP) is made compulsory in no-fault states. Secondly, PIP pays you for loss of income or child care in case of accident. This you cannot enjoy under medical payments coverage. What of people with health insurance? Health insurance and medical payments insurance are almost the same. However, it is good to understand that medical payments coverage does not have any deductible. This means that the insurer does not need to wait till you contribute a deductible before they pay for your medical expenses. If you are already having health insurance, you may need to compare what the policy offers with what the medical payments coverage offers. Insurance companies may not necessarily provide the same coverage. If you feel that your health insurance is inadequate, you can still add medical payments coverage as the cost is not much. Nevertheless, how much you will be asked to pay as premium will depend on some factors such as your driving record, sex, age, marital status and claim history. For instance, if you have a very good driving record with no history of accident or traffic laws violations, you may be able to get very cheap quotes for your medical payment insurance. On the other hand, people with no good driving record or people with claims history may need to pay higher premium.