A Guide to Your Rights

• An Overview and Introduction
• Health Insurance
• Patient Safety
• Private Benefits:
  Motor Vehicle Insurance
• Private Benefits: Disability Insurance
• Private Benefits: Workers Compensation
• Public Benefits:
  Commonwealth Of Pennsylvania
• Public Benefits:
  Crime Victims Compensation Fund
• Public Benefits:
  Federal Government
• Public Benefits: Attendant Care
• Disabled Children
• Rehabilitation Hospitals
  & Facilities
• Vocational Rehabilitation Services
• Civil Litigation: Claims For Damages
• Resources
• Support Groups
• Entitlements And Benefits
• Acknowledgements

 

Private Benefits: Motor Vehicle Insurance

If someone is injured in a motor vehicle accident, motor vehicle insurance is another potential source of medical coverage. This coverage is potentially available even if the injured person was not a driver or a passenger in the car, so long as the accident arose out of the maintenance or use of a motor vehicle.

In Pennsylvania, the law requires that every policy of automobile insurance include medical benefits of at least $5,000. In our experience, most people purchase automobile insurance policies that provide medical coverage that is either at that low level, or very close to it. The amount of medical benefits available under an automobile policy can often be spent – or “exhausted” – with a single day in the hospital. Nevertheless, this is a source of coverage that should not be overlooked.

These benefits can be subject to many of the same types of claim “roadblocks” found with private medical insurance. However, because the extent of first-party coverage is often limited, in the event of catastrophic injuries these types of problems do not come into play.

Motor vehicle insurers are also required by law to offer coverage for “income loss benefits” to replace income lost as a result of an accident. They are required to offer accidental death benefits and funeral benefits, and “extraordinay medical benefits” coverage which covers medical expenses in excess of $100,000. You should check insurance policies to see whether any of these coverages are available.