Who Pays your Medical Bills after a Car Accident in New Jersey?
The short answer is that in many accidents, each driver’s own car insurance pays for their own accident-related medical bills whether or not they were at fault for causing the accident.
New Jersey is a no-fault state, meaning that it does not matter which driver causes a car accident in determining which insurance company pays for an injured person’s medical bills.
What if you were hit by a car while crossing the street?
New Jersey car accident law goes a step further and mandates that a pedestrian who is struck and injured may have their medical bills covered by their own auto insurance despite the fact that their own vehicle was uninvolved.
However, not every scenario is so simple. For example, individuals who do not have cars or car insurance that are struck as a pedestrian may be entitled to medical coverage through the car insurance of a blood relative whom they live with. So that means if you are struck by a car while crossing the street and you do not have your own car insurance but your sister whom you live with does, then you would likely be having your medical bills covered through by your sister’s insurance.
What if you don’t have car insurance and you don’t live with anyone who has car insurance?
In this scenario, you may be entitled to your medical bills being paid by NJPLIGA, which is a fund partially designated for this very scenario and it provides up to $250,000 worth of medical bill coverage.
The above scenario assumes you were struck by a private passenger vehicle and not a commercial vehicle, bus, taxi, public vehicle, etc. The results typically differ if struck by a vehicle other than a private passenger vehicle. Commercial vehicles, for example, are required in New Jersey to carry Pedestrian Personal Injury Protection (PIP) of up to $250,000 to cover medical bills for pedestrians they strike and injure.
What if you are a passenger in someone else’s car when you are injured?
Again, your own car insurance would pay for your medical bills despite your own vehicle being uninvolved in the accident. If you are uninsured, then your medical bills may be paid for by any blood relatives’ insurance policies that you were living with at the time of the accident. Only if neither of the two above scenarios applies would your medical bills be covered by the insurance of the vehicle you were a passenger in.
The above scenarios are common ones but are by no means the only scenarios that could occur. New Jersey car accident law is dense and provides different answers to questions as to who is responsible for accident-related medical bills depending on various circumstances. There are various reasons your own car insurance could be denying to pay for your medical bills.
The PIPulator Simplifies the Process
The PIPulator was designed to help individuals who have car accident-related medical bills quickly determine who should be paying for their medical bills by clicking through a few short automated questions.
If medical bills are not properly submitted to the correct entities, those bills may not be paid and could be owed by you out of pocket. Furthermore, there are time requirements for submitting medical bills and if not done properly could result in your medical bill payments being denied and ultimately leaving you with the debt.
Ask me a Legal Question
If you have been injured in a car accident and would like a free consultation, you may contact me, Jeffrey E. Salomon, Esq. As a personal injury lawyer, I am devoted to helping car accident victims.