The US has a bicameral legislature, which in this instance means that various factors related to personal injury lawsuits, health and auto insurance claims are governed by laws that may differ from state to state. If someone is unfortunately injured in a car accident, and the location is not within their home state’s jurisdictions, the situation might force panic into them, especially since they are already physically and mentally traumatized by the car accident.
We are here to assure you that as long as you are within the United States, and you are a registered US citizen, you don’t need to worry too much about anything. Nevertheless, there are a few key aspects of managing the situation in the best way possible and we are about to explain them to you in brief.
What About Health Insurance?
Health insurance is a lot trickier to handle, and unlike auto insurance policies in general, providers are not as lenient with their policies and coverages across all fifty US states. It is too complicated to answer everything, without knowing the particulars of the accident, the insurer and the policy, but we have underlined certain important facts that people should be aware of, in advance:
- Insurers will not cover medical bills for out of state auto accidents by default, as there is no such law that makes it mandatory for them to do so.
- To cover the medical costs of treating an out of state car accident injury, the medical insurance policy must have an out of state coverage clause.
- Even with out of state coverage included, not every state will be on that list.
- On the other hand, every medical insurance provider is obligated to cover your emergency medical bills, irrespective of the state where you got injured.
- Different insurers will have different definitions of the term emergency, so even that is also highly subjective.
You Must Contact a Local Personal Injury Attorney to File Compensation Claims
To file a compensation claim, you will need to first find, and then consult with, a personal injury attorney. However, the attorney must be licensed under the state to practice, as well as being experienced in the state laws that govern personal injury claims. If you are in regular contact with any of your home state attorneys, then they might be able to help you in finding someone in the specific state. In Georgia, Horst Shewmaker is one of the best legal firms to contact for filing auto accident claims, whether you reside in the state or not. If you are having trouble with your insurance providers, rest assured that they will take care of that and sort things out in no time as well.
Auto Insurance: Will It Cover the Costs?
Not only do most auto insurance policies cover accidents across all US states, but you might also be surprised to find that a few of them include US territories and certain Canadian provinces within their coverage area. You will need to confirm the same with your insurance agent of course, which in fact, should be your next step, as they will be able to guide you through the whole claims process much better.
Considering how limited health insurance coverage can be while you are recuperating from your car accident in a different US state, try to maximize your auto insurance coverage’s wider reach and see if you opted for Personal Injury Protection (PIP) while taking out your policy. If you did, then your auto insurer will cover the medical expenses related to the accident as well, except in a few No-Fault states.
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