Legal Question in Personal Injury in Maryland
I had an accident in 3years back and settled the case with auto insurance company. But the insurance company did not pay the medical bill for chiropractice treatment. as per the insurance company, treatment is not related to accident, rather it is a degenerative disease. When I started treatment with chiropractice, I agreed to pay from my pocket since my medical insurance company did not cover chiropractice treatment for an of $368/month. Later chiropractice asked me to send the bill to auto insurance. after checking with auto insurance company, I agreed them to send the bill to auto insurance. During settlement, auto insurance claim agent changed his promise and try to avoid paying medical bills by arguing that the treatment is not due to accident.
Now the question>If the insurance company did not agree to pay the their contribution, am I liable to pay the bill that chiropractice practioner asking me to pay. I do not sign any paper with chiropractice practioner that I will pay bill due from auto insurance. During the treatment I paid money which I agreed with them initially ($368/month) that is the money that chiropratice practitioner charge for candidate going directly for treatment without involving auto insurance. since I told them that it is due to accident, they are trying to charge auto insurance company.
Please suggest should I owe the balance money, that auto insurance did not pay, to the chiropratice practitioner in this circumstance
1 Answer from Attorneys
Generally speaking, when you settle a liability claim with the insurer for the other driver, that is considered to be an "all claims" settlement. That means that any medical bills you incurred are considered to be included in the amount of the settlement, so you must then pay your bills out of that settlement. If you had personal injury protection coverage (PIP), you could have made claim for reimbursement from your PIP coverage through your own policy, and they would have paid up to $2500 if you had the minimum amount of coverage. This would have had no later effect on your coverage or premium, since you were not at fault.
You are ultimately responsible to pay for medical services that are not covered by insurance unless your provider is a participating provider in a medical insurance plan who agrees to accept whatever benefits the plan provides. Obviously the chiropractor doesn't fall into that category.
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