Quote:
Originally Posted by bimmertl
Your understanding is completely wrong. In Florida you must buy 10K in PIP coverage. That covers medical bills. So a med provider needs to know if you have auto insurance and then they'll know you have primary medical coverage with Florida's personal injury coverage "PIP" It pays before Medicare and regular health insurance. The mandatory PIP minimum limits are 10K so the first 10K in medical bills is paid by PIP.
It's absurd to think a med provider will be able to make some decision if in fact another driver or person is uninsured, and at fault, at the time of treatment, so UM applies. In addition, UM is not a primary or secondary med coverage provider. The med provider has no recourse to bill UM coverage for payment of any bills.
UM coverage is a first party contractual coverage that benefits only the insured. No med provider has any right to claim it's coverage benefits as a third party since they aren't an insured under the policy. Their claim for reimbursement of bills paid would be against the uninsured motorist.
|
I admit that I am not an expert on how UM insurance works when someone is injured in an accident with respect to medical bills. But, I don't understand your second two paragraphs. I assume that someone with UM insurance that covers medical bills would have their UM insurance limit reduced by the amount of those payments. But, I don't have any UM insurance and I don't want it. I have excellent medical insurance and that is all that I need to cover my medical bills. Why would I want to depend on my auto insurance company to pay for medical bills when I am already covered for that? It is totally redundant with my medical insurance. The only other reasons for UM insurance would be for lost wages and pain and suffering. I don't have any wages to lose, and I am certainly not going to pay an annual premium to cover the unlikely need for a pain and suffering lawsuit, where the lawyer would skim off 40 percent or more of any settlement. Most people who have UM insurance have a limit of $100K per person which is not enough to fund a pain and suffering settlement after deducting any medical bills and lawyer fees. Most lawyers would not even take the case for that amount. In my opinion, if you are retired and have good medical insurance, you should seriously evaluate the need for UM insurance. The fact is that most people do not even know what their UM insurance covers.