Whether you have life-threatening injuries, or you have a few bumps and bruises, it’s always a good idea to seek out medical attention right after a severe car accident. Internal injuries could take up to a few hours to present themselves, so it’s best if a doctor examines you so you can ensure that you’re 100% safe to go home.
While it’s an absolute must that you go to the hospital or to your physician after a car accident, getting checked out from head to toe can be very expensive—especially if your medical attention required any surgery, treatment in the ICU, or long-term care in the hospital.
A few weeks after your accident, the medical bills will start to arrive in your mailbox. The amount you owe in bills could be staggering, and it could be affecting your credit score and your overall financial security to help pay them off.
According to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, 43 million Americans have overdue medical debt reported on their credit. So, although the high cost of your medical bills might seem overwhelming and it’s often difficult to navigate the complex health care system (particularly if you’ve always been a reasonably healthy person), you can reduce your medical debt by pursuing a personal injury lawsuit to seek out compensation for your medical bill debt.
WHAT TO DO FIRST WHEN DEALING WITH MEDICAL DEBT
It’s likely that you’ll be receiving bills from several offices after your accident: the ambulance service that took you to the hospital, the ER doctor, hospital, the surgeon, etc. If your injuries were severe and required you to go to the physical therapist and several follow-up appointments with physicians, then you’ll start to see bills from them as well.
Keep good records of all these bills and make sure that you’re putting them in organized folders. The main idea is that you know exactly what you owe as the bills come in.
WHO IS LIABLE FOR MEDICAL DEBT?
Georgia, like most other states in the U.S., is an at-fault state. If there is an accident, the driver who caused it (and their insurance company) will be responsible for all damages such as medical expenses and vehicle damage. Georgia has a specific type of at fault, which is known as “proportional comparative fault.” What this means is that each driver involved in the accident has a percentage of the blame. If it’s determined that a driver is more than 50 percent at fault for causing the crash, then they are unable to seek any compensation.
So, if you were not at fault in the accident, the driver responsible for the crash is liable for your medical debt.
Do you have unpaid medical debt from a car accident in Georgia? A personal injury lawyer can help you get properly compensated and help you ensure that your medical debt gets paid. Give the Fry | Goehring a call today at (404) 948-3571.
