Why Does the Hospital Want My Car Insurance Information?

When you’re hurt in a wreck and go to the hospital, chances are the intake people will want to know if you have car insurance, or they’ll want to know the information about the car that hit you. The reason they want this information is because they want to make a claim against your medical payments coverage on your automobile policy.

As a personal injury lawyer, I think this is a bad idea. You should always put your health bills on your health insurance. This will help us help you later. What happens in real life is, if the hospital charges $1,000 for your treatment, and they turn that $1,000 over to your medical payments coverage, they get paid dollar for dollar.

At the end of the settlement, that’s a $1,000 gone from the settlement that you do not get. If you turn that over to your health insurance, the hospital will get paid based upon the contractual discount from your health insurance. So they may receive $300 or $400 – and you can see right now why the hospital wants that car insurance.

At the end of the case, you’ll have to pay back your health insurance for what they pay, less the attorney negotiation that we get for you; but you can see how the benefit would be to you if you have your health insurance pay your bills instead of your car insurance.

If you’re hurt in a car wreck, if you have a hospital asking for your medical payments coverage information, call us at 615-425-2500, or reach out at RockyLawFirm.com. With offices in Nashville, Hendersonville and Knoxville, Rocky McElhaney Law Firm is always nearby when you need us the most.