One of the first questions that a lawyer needs to answer in a personal injury file is what types of coverages provide protection to their client and whether the dollar amount of the coverage will be sufficient to compensate their injured client.  Healing from an injury can take time.  During that time, medical bills may begin to add up which only increases the difficulty faced by an injured person.  One type of insurance coverage that is available to Virginia consumers is called Medical Payments coverage, or Med Pay.  It is an excellent protection that you can purchase for yourself; it is cost effective and can help alleviate the stress of early medical bills during lengthy recovery.

In Virginia, every automobile insurance company must offer medical payment insurance along with the policy they are selling. Purchasers of insurance in Virginia are not required to buy this coverage, but it must be offered. This protection is enshrined in VA Code Section 38.2-2201 and we will discuss it in depth here.  The protection may seem straightforward but the practical application can contain traps for the unwary – consult the experienced injury attorneys at Inman and Strickler to make sure that you are receiving the full benefit for which you are paying.

What does Med Pay Cover?

Medical Payments coverage will pay, up to the limit of the coverage, for medical expenses incurred from an accident within a certain time period.  Companies providing vehicle insurance have to offer medical payment plans for at least $2000 but individuals can choose to purchase more than this if they so desire.

In Virginia Med Pay coverage can be used to pay for medical bills and lost wages. It covers:

• All reasonable and necessary expenses for medical, hospital, chiropractic, dental, surgical, rehabilitation, prosthetic, emergency medical, and funeral services resulting from a motor vehicle accident and incurred within three years of the date of the accident. This includes co-pays.
• An amount equal to the loss of income incurred after the date of the accident up to $100 per week up to the date you are able to return to your usual occupation. Med Pay does not have to pay benefits for wage loss incurred more than one year after the date of the accident.

The coverage not only includes the person who buys it, but also their spouse and their immediate family. Additionally, it will protect anyone who is in the vehicle at the time of injury as well.  The coverage also applies if you are struck by an automobile while as a pedestrian, a bicyclist, or as a passenger in someone else’s car or motorcycle.  This coverage pays whether or not you are the at-fault party.

This coverage is an additional line-item that you pay for on your auto insurance policy as a whole.  So this means that your Med Pay coverage will also pay regardless of whether there is another type of insurance coverage that applies to the same bill or expense.  Think of it this way

• if you are injured and seek medical care your health insurance will cover some portion of the bill.  Down the road you may also make an injury claim through the liability coverage for the person who injured you, but because Med Pay coverage pays regardless of these other two types of protection, you may also file a Med Pay claim for the bill.

Another important thing to know is that Virginia allows injured parties to “stack” their Med Pay coverage, depending on the specific coverage purchased and the number of vehicles on the policy.  An insured can stack their Med Pay coverage up to four times.  For example, if you purchased $2,000 in Med Pay coverage and have four different vehicles on your policy, then you have $8,000 in Med Pay coverage available to you at the time of your injury.