Medical Payments Coverage

What is Medical Payments Coverage?

In most states, supplementary coverage options for auto insurance policies include medical payments coverage, generally known as MedPay. Even if you are at fault in a car accident, this coverage may be able to assist with covering you or your passengers' medical costs. Although it is provided in the majority of states, MedPay isn't given in every one of them. Personal injury protection (PIP) coverage is often available in states without MedPay.

What do medical payments cover?

Only bodily injuries directly linked to an automobile accident are covered by MedPay. No matter who was deemed to be at fault in the collision, medical payments coverage is still in effect. Following an incident, MedPay pays for expenses like:

• Medical assistance
• Ambulance and EMT fees
• Hospital costs, such as those for X-rays
• Aftercare costs
• Funeral costs

Two special characteristics of MedPay are:

If you sustain an injury outside of your car, medical costs coverage is applicable. MedPay would reimburse the expenses if you were hurt while riding a bike or as a pedestrian.

Instead of following the vehicle, MedPay follows the policyholder (like car insurance). For instance, medical payments insurance would protect you if you were riding in a friend's car and there was an accident.

How does medical payments coverage work?

After an accident, you would pay your medical fees in full and request reimbursement from your MedPay provider. Deductibles and copays, which are frequently related to health insurance, won't be required of you.

Your health insurance would cover the majority of your medical expenses if your MedPay is regarded as supplementary coverage. You might utilize MedPay to pay for your copays or deductibles.

The MedPay coverage limits are often modest. They are primarily designed to augment other types of insurance or to pay for immediate medical and burial costs following an accident. Additionally, rather than MedPay, you are covered if you suffer an injury at work through workers' compensation.

What is covered by Auto Insurance Medical Payments?

Your vehicle insurance policy's medical payments coverage might cover a variety of costs following a collision. Typically, these include:

• Ambulance and EMT fees
• Hospital stays and visits
• Seeing a doctor
• X-rays and surgery
• Professional care and nursing services
• Prosthetic limbs
• Due to an accident, dental surgery was performed
• Injuries you sustain if a car hits you while you're walking or riding a bicycle
• Funeral expenses

What is not covered by Car Insurance Medical Payments?

MedPay does not pay for:

• Cost overruns under your policy's cap.
• Wage recompense if an injury prevents you from working.
• If an accident limits you, child care expenses.
• Treatment for any injuries that might cause a collision with other drivers.
• Treatment for wounds or medical conditions unrelated to auto accidents.

How much can medical payments car insurance cost?

The maximum dollar payout that MedPay policyholders select influences the premium cost. Your auto insurance price will increase if you select a greater maximum. Through your online account or by phone, you may always add medical payments coverage to a policy.

The coverage limits per incident and the additional cost to the monthly premium for a hypothetical 30-year-old married man driving a Toyota Camry in Indiana are shown in the examples below. Depending on how much MedPay protection you get, costs might range from an additional $2 per month to $37 per month. Your choice should be based on the overall cost of your insurance.

Cost by insurer and coverage limit per accident

The most popular MedPay coverage limits among the five businesses we examined were $1,000, $2,000, $5,000, $10,000, and $25,000. State Farm provided larger limitations, such as medical payments up to $50,000 and $100,000.

MedPay in auto insurance: State by State options

What's the difference between liability coverage and medical payments coverage?

Insurance for medical expenses is optional. Therefore, if you cause a car accident and don't have medical payments coverage, you will be responsible for paying your own medical bills out of pocket.

On the other hand, most states have laws requiring auto liability coverage. After a car collision, neither you nor your passengers' medical expenses will be covered by your auto liability insurance.

The bodily injury liability section of your auto insurance helps cover the other party's medical costs if you cause a car accident. Likewise, if another driver causes an accident that results in your injuries, their auto liability insurance may assist in covering your medical expenses.

Medical payments coverage limits

The most your insurance company will spend for a covered loss is known as the coverage limit for medical payments insurance. When you purchase coverage, you can pick your own limit. Keep in mind that you are responsible for any medical costs that go over your coverage's maximum.

If you need assistance determining the right coverage limit for your requirements, you might wish to consider the cost of immediate medical care following a car accident.

Say, for instance, that following an accident, you needed to visit the emergency hospital with injuries. Your health insurance may cover some of the cost of the ER visit, but you might also be responsible for a $2,000 deductible and a co-insurance payment.

Your car insurance policy's medical costs coverage could be useful in this situation. If you had chosen a $3,000 coverage limit in the aforementioned case, your medical payments insurance could have assisted in covering your health insurance deductible as well as a part of your copay for your ER visit.

What is medical payments coverage in homeowners' insurance?

Medical payments to others also referred to as Coverage F in your home insurance policy, is set aside to pay for a visitor's medical bills if they sustain an injury while on your property. For instance, if the babysitter stumbles and breaks a bone, your medical payments coverage will take effect and pay for the babysitter's hospital care. In comparison to your liability limit, Coverage F coverage limitations are sometimes fairly low; they normally fall between $1,000 and $5,000.

How is MedPay coverage different from liability insurance?

Liability limits are significantly greater than MedPay limits since liability covers more than just medical costs. This is the main distinction between liability and MedPay. Legal costs are also covered by liability insurance in the event that you are held liable for another person's injuries. Liability, on the other hand, only covers bodily injuries with a significantly lower cap, whereas MedPay also covers property damage.

By resolving modest disputes, MedPay is intended to assist you in avoiding potential litigation. It simply covers the injured person's medical costs, regardless of who was at blame and lacks the breadth of coverage that responsibility offers.

Bottom line

Although not all insurers offered coverage at the same levels, we calculated the cost to add medical payments at five different levels of coverage ranging from $1,000 to $25,000.