We have an interesting question which we be responded to from the accident lawyer in Boca Raton (injury attorney Weston, accident lawyer Palm Springs, injury lawyer Cutler Ridge, accident attorney Lauderhill, accident lawyer Coral Springs, injury lawyer Fort Lauderdale, injury attorney Cooper City) in this week’s blog.
Generally, under Florida law, all vehicles are required to have Personal Injury Protection (PIP) and this PIP coverage pays your medical bills (80 percent to $10,000; also it pays 60 percent of proven lost wages within the same $10,000) when you are involved in an accident. It is called “no fault” coverage as it pays when you are at fault, when the other car is at fault or when there is a dispute as to who is at fault. In the vast majority of cases here in Florida PIP coverage will apply. There are some exceptions, like on municipal buses and taxi cabs which are not required to have PIP and there could be many other exceptions like on out of state vehicles which are not necessarily governed by Florida law and may not have Florida PIP coverage. Even if you have health insurance, PIP is primary coverage which means it will pay your medical bills first and often times health insurance will deny payment of medical bills related to a car accident when they realize that Florida PIP is primary. The idea of the law was to make sure that people had access to medical treatment following a car accident, the legislators obviously being concerned about those who don’t have health insurance, although the law applies to everyone the same.
Generally, your own PIP coverage applies to you, whether you are in your car or not. If you do not own a car but live with a relative that owns a car, then generally that relative’s PIP coverage applies to you, whether you are in that car or not. Thirdly, if you do not own a car nor live with a relative that owns a car, then the PIP of the car that you are in will generally apply.
The short answer here is that generally PIP coverage pays 80 percent of your medical bills following a car accident, up to $10,000.00. Sometimes people have 100 percent coverage, if you purchase that from your insurance company and other times people have PIP deductibles, which can be as high as $1,000 in Florida. The deductible, the 20 percent that goes unpaid or any amount that goes over and above the $10,000 PIP coverage can be billed to your health insurance, can be part of your case against the person that caused the accident if someone else is at fault for the accident, or would legally be your responsibility to pay.
At Drucker Law Offices, Gary J. Drucker helps his clients set up a PIP claim and helps them recover money for their injuries following an car accident. Please call Drucker Law Offices for a free consultation at (561) 483-9199 for Palm Beach County (Boca Raton Main office); (954) 755-2120 in Broward County (Coral Springs satellite office); or (305) 981-1561 in Miami-Dade County (Miami satellite office).
It is important to note that every case is unique and should be judged based on the specific facts of the case. The advice in this blog is intended to be general in nature and should not to be construed as specific advice for a case, as a minor difference in the facts of the case could change the result. Also, this blog is, as the web site suggests, based on Florida law and the laws of any other states or even another country could vary from Florida.
