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What is Medical Payments Insurance?

In purchasing car insurance, you may be overwhelmed with the numerous coverage options available when comprising your policy.  From liability coverage to collision coverage and from comprehensive coverage to underinsured motorist coverage, it’s often hard for people to understand what they’re purchasing.  Another such coverage you’ll likely see available when purchasing car insurance is called medical payments coverage.

Medical payments coverage (often referred to as personal injury protection in states outside Missouri), is a type of auto insurance coverage that pays for medical bills you incur when injured in a car accident.  This coverage is “no-fault” coverage, meaning you do not have to prove fault to recover compensation from this coverage following a crash.  For example, let’s imagine you are driving down the road and a deer jumps out in front of your car causing you to swerve off the road.  Your vehicle crashes into the grassy embankment causing your hand to strike the steering wheel and breaking your wrist.  Although you likely do not have any liability claim to recover your medical expenses (i.e., you cannot bring a claim against the deer), your medical payments coverage will kick in to help pay for your medical bills for your broken wrist.

Medical payments coverage is an optional coverage in Missouri, meaning you are not required to carry it on your auto insurance policy.  However, medical payments coverage can often be purchased for a low monthly premium and it provides an additional safety net when you are involved in a car accident.  Even if you have health insurance, medical payments insurance can help cover out-of-pocket expenses such as deductibles and co-payments, or other expenses not covered by health insurance.  This coverage will also typically cover any passengers occupying your vehicle at the time of a car accident as well.

Oftentimes, injured clients will not understand what coverages they have (or should have) and what routes of recovery they have following a car crash.  As such, if you or a loved one has been injured in a car accident, it’s important you reach out to an experienced injury attorney for a comprehensive assessment of your claim.  At the A.W. Smith Law Firm, our attorneys will gladly explain the coverages you have, such as medical payments coverage, and do so in free, no-obligation case evaluation.