As discussed on prior blog posts, under a new Florida law effective January 1, 2013, in order to have PIP benefits to pay your medical bills you must go tot he hospital OR see one of the enumerated physicians within 14 days following an accident; otherwise, your automobile insurance carrier does not have to pay the medical bills. It should be noted that there have been constitutional challenges to the law and I would expect more challenges in the future, so the efficacy of the new law could be challenged.
In order to analyze this law, let’s set up how this works. In Florida, everyone is required to have PIP benefits on their car. This insurance applies to the car owner but also to any resident relatives or someone that is in their car that does not own a car or live with a relative that owns a car. Thus, in almost every car accident, a person will qualify for PIP benefits. The PIP is no fault type of insurance which means that regardless of who is at fault, your own PIP insurance pays the medical bills. Even if you have health insurance, generally the PIP is the primary insurance to pay medical bills related to an accident. If someone does not have health insurance, then the PIP insurance may be the only way to get treatment paid for following an accident (particularly if the injured person is at fault; in other words, if another vehicle is at fault and has bodily injury coverage, then that may be a basis to get recovery for your medical bills following an accident).
Assuming someone else is at fault, there is generally good reason to seek treatment right away following an accident where you are injured. One element of proof in an automobile negligence case is causation and the longer the delay in treatment and the gap between the accident date and your first treatment very well may be used by the defense to hurt your case. Clients often times have excuses to why they were unable to get to a doctor (family obligations, work, etc.). But with this new Florida law, there is another reason to seek treatment and that is that if you don’t have some form of treatment by a properly licensed physician within 14 days, then your automobile insurance carrier does not have to pay ANY of the medical bills.
Assuming the client is at fault, and particularly if the client does not have health insurance, PIP may be the only way to get treatment paid for absent paying on your own and thus the 14 day window could be the difference between being able to get treatment and not being able to get it. I recently spoke with someone who was at fault in an accident and more than 14 days had gone by and she was unable to find a doctor that was willing to treat her for her injuries, as she did not have health insurance nor the ability to pay the doctors, by example. Thus, it is important to get to the doctor following a car accident in Florida as soon as possible but more so within 14 days.
