Accidents can be tough to deal with, especially when you have serious injuries and high medical bills. If your medical debt is too high to handle, call a lawyer and talk about how you might reduce this debt.
Your attorney might be able to contact hospital officials and work out a way to reduce your bills. This might involve reviewing itemized lists of procedures and treatment costs, disputing erroneous charges, or working our agreements for smaller payments. Your attorney might instead help you file insurance claims. Some hospital bills are overwhelming because health insurance providers fail to step up when they should. Your lawyer can help you enforce the terms of your policy or explore other insurance options you might not realize you have. If the negligent actions of another caused your accident, your lawyer can assist you in taking legal action against that person and making them pay for the damages and costs they created.
To begin your case, schedule a free, private case assessment with our Illinois personal injury lawyers at the Rhatigan Law Offices by calling (312) 578-8502.
How Your Attorney Can Negotiate Down Medical Debt After an Accident in Illinois
You can push back on medical bills you believe are unfair or incorrect. If you do this alone, you might have difficulty convincing the hospital to listen to you. However, if you have a lawyer by your side, the hospital might be more willing to listen to avoid escalating the situation to a lawsuit.
Your attorney can help you request an itemized list of your treatments and costs from the hospital. Hospital bills are often based on a complicated system of codes. Each treatment or procedure is assigned a unique code entered into the system to calculate your bill. Sometimes, codes are entered incorrectly, or too many are entered into the system. Patients who might not know any better are hit with inflated hospital bills when this happens. Your Rockford, IL personal injury attorney can help you double-check codes and make sure your bill is correct.
If your bill is incorrect, your lawyer can dispute any charges that should not be there. This might involve bringing erroneous charges to the hospital’s attention or refuting unfair charges. Perhaps your doctor performed a procedure that was not necessary without your consent. You should not have to pay for medical treatment you did not need nor consent to.
Your attorney might be able to negotiate a deal with the hospital. Hospitals operate on tight budgets. Hospital administrators like it when patients pay their bills all at once upfront because it means a larger influx of cash for the hospital. Perhaps you can pay a large portion of your total bill in cash, but not the whole thing. The hospital might be amenable to accepting a smaller lump sum in cash if it means they do not have to deal with long-term installment payments.
Reducing Medical Debt By Fling Insurance Claims in Illinois
Another way to reduce your medical bills is to file insurance claims. If you have health insurance, you likely gave this information to the hospital when you were admitted. Treatments and costs are run through your insurance provider before they get to you. Ideally, your health insurance should cover most, if not all, of your expenses. Unfortunately, this is not always the case.
Many injured accident victims are surprised to learn that their health insurance did not cover nearly as much as anticipated. Often, insurance companies claim that certain treatments or conditions are not covered by their policy, and they are not obligated to cover the costs. In many cases, this is not entirely true.
Insurance policies are notoriously complicated, and even insurance companies have been known to misinterpret their own policies. Your policy is essentially a contract between you and the insurance provider. Your lawyer can review your policy and help you determine if your medical costs should be covered. If they should be covered, our Chicago personal injury lawyers can bring the issue to the insurance company’s attention.
In many cases, the insurance company will correct its mistake. In other cases, they refuse to back down. In such cases, we can help you file claims against the insurance company to make them pay in accordance with your policy.
Making Negligent Defendants Pay for Your Medical Bills After an Accident in Illinois
If insurance does not cover your medical bills and the hospital refuses to budge on payment, we can file a case against the person who caused your injuries in the first place. People often think of accidents as unfortunate yet inevitable. This is often not true. Many accidents are the direct result of someone else’s negligent behavior.
When you file an injury lawsuit against someone, you may claim various damages, including medical bills. Additional damages might include property damage, pain and suffering, and even the loss of income if your injuries keep you from working.
Depending on what you want out of your case, we might settle with the defendant or pursue a full trial with a judge and jury. While a settlement is often faster, it might be less than your total damages. A jury trial generally takes a long time, but you might receive much greater compensation.
How a Lawyer Can Help You Handle Medical Debt After an Accident in Illinois
Simply having a lawyer gives your claims more weight. A hospital or insurance company might be more inclined to listen to what you have to say when they know an attorney is advising you. This can be extremely helpful when challenging an insurance company or a hospital.
An attorney should be familiar with the legal ins and outs of accidents, damages, and legal procedures. Even if you can technically pursue your claims on your own, navigating the complicated legal process might be too difficult. An experienced attorney should know how to streamline the process and get your medical debt reduced as quickly as possible.
Call Our Illinois Personal Injury Attorneys to Discuss Reducing Your Medical Bills
To start your case, arrange a free, confidential case evaluation with our Naperville, IL personal injury lawyers at the Rhatigan Law Offices by calling (312) 578-8502.
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