Quiz Me! Are Medical Payments and Health Insurance the Same?

I thought what better way to dive into the differences between Medical Payments Coverage and Health Insurance than by starting with a quiz?Many of us enjoy taking Facebook quizzes to check our IQ, see what we might look like in twenty years (I really don’t recommend this one in particular!), or find out what kind of personality we might have based on our birth month.  Apparently, I’m independent, sassy, kind, and hardheaded, but I don’t think I needed a Facebook quiz to tell me some of that.

Whether simply for fun or hidden information gathering purposes, these quizzes appeal to many people?  To make it both fun and easy, it’s in true or false form, so get out a pen and paper, play along, and see how well you score.  For even more fun, compare your score with others by leaving us a comment on our Facebook post showing your score.  Get ready, get set, and GO!

TRUE OR FALSE?

Keep track of your answers, no cheating!

  1. Medical payments coverage is exactly the same as health insurance coverage.
  2. Medical payments coverage may be used to pay medical expenses, such as hospital, doctor, pharmacy, and physical therapy bills, when you are injured in a car accident.
  3. Medical payments coverage may be used to pay your passenger[s]’ medical expenses, such as hospital, doctor, and physical therapy bills, when he/she is injured in a car accident in your vehicle.
  4. Medical payments coverage may be used to pay your out-of-pocket health expenses, such as co-pays, deductibles, and co-insurance, when you are injured in a car accident.
  5. Medical payments coverage may be used to pay your passenger[s]’ out-of-pocket health expenses, such as co-pays, deductibles, and co-insurance, when he/she is injured in a car accident in your vehicle.
  6. Every person who drives and has car insurance is required to have medical payments coverage.
  7. Medical payments coverage is automatically included in every auto insurance policy.
  8. Every person who drives and has car insurance needs medical payments coverage.
  9. Medical payments coverage is free.
  10. Medical payments coverage can be purchased through an automobile insurance company.
  11. Medical payments coverage may be used regardless of whether you have submitted a claim against another driver.
  12. Medical payments coverage may be used even if you have submitted a claim against another driver but that driver has denied he is responsible for causing the auto accident.
  13. Medical payments coverage is not available if you have health insurance.
  14. Med pay coverage is always primary to health insurance, meaning that a hospital, doctor, pharmacy, physical therapist, and/or chiropractor must bill medical payments coverage before billing health insurance.
  15. Auto insurance companies always have a right to be repaid any medical payments coverage paid whenever an injured person receives a personal injury settlement.

The Answers

Did you need to phone a friend to help with the answers?  Let’s go through these in fast order.

ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS 1-5

At the outset, it is true that med pay coverage is similar to or like health insurance, in that both med pay coverage and health insurance may be used to pay your medical expenses, such as hospital, doctor, pharmacy, and physical therapy bills, whenever you are treating from injuries resulting from a car accident.  However, medical payments coverage is not exactly the same as health insurance.

First, med pay coverage is available from and through your auto insurance company, while health insurance is available from and through your employer, your spouse’s employer, and/or a governmental entity (think Medicaid, Medicare, etc.).

Second, med pay coverage may also be used to pay not just your medical expenses, but those of your passengers as well.  Health insurance, on the other hand, will not pay your passengers’ medical bills (unless your passengers are family and included on your health insurance – for example, your children or spouse).

Third – and this is important – medical payments coverage may be used to pay any out-of-pocket medical expenses, such as co-pays, deductibles, and co-insurance, that your health insurance did not cover.

For example, your ER visit on the day of the crash cost $2,000, but your health insurance pays only 75% of ER visits, meaning you are on the hook to pay the remaining 25% totaling $500 out of your pocket.  Medical payments coverage can pay that $500 so you don’t have to choose between paying your gas bill in the middle of winter or paying the ER so you don’t end up in collections.  The same scenario applies to your passengers as well, such that medical payments coverage may be available to pay anything that his/her health insurance did not cover.

Medical Payments Health Insurance Emergency Room Quiz

If you’re still with me, that means Number 1 is FALSE, while Numbers 2, 3, 4, and 5 are all TRUE.  How many did you get right?  Were you able to answer the questions correctly without googling the answers?  If you got all five correct, great job, now let’s continue to the rest.

ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS 6-10

Moving on, it is not true that every person who drives and has car insurance is required to have medical payments coverage.  In other words, medical payments coverage is elective.  You can choose to have it or not have it.  Because medical payments coverage is elective, it is not automatically included in every auto insurance policy.  That means you have to ask for it, but that begs the question of whether you actually need medical payments coverage.

Not everyone who drives or rides in a car needs medical payments coverage.  If you have health insurance with low deductibles, minimal co-pays, great coverage for services and providers, and/or if you have the ability to pay any deductibles, co-pays, co-insurance, and other out-of-pocket expenses, then you probably do not need medical payments coverage to protect you in an accident.

So what if you want it anyway?  If it’s free, why not have it?  Well, like with most things in life, medical payments coverage is not free.  It is an added premium expense, albeit usually only a few dollars more.  If you decide you want it, you can purchase it through your auto insurance company.

Medical Payments Health Insurance Car Insurance Quiz

Time to tally your score some more.  Numbers 6, 7, 8, and 9 are FALSE, and Number 10 is TRUE.  Five questions left to tally!  Will your score be perfect?  Read on!

While the first ten may have been somewhat easy, these last five will really test your knowledge.

ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS 11-15

Medical payments coverage is a unique insurance benefit, in that, unlike liability insurance, medical payments coverage can be used regardless of fault, regardless of whether you have submitted a claim against another driver, and regardless of whether another driver denies responsibility or liability.  In other words, you do not have to prove fault in order to obtain the benefits and payments of your medical payments coverage.  Medical payments coverage is also available to use even if you have health insurance, and in fact, may provide better coverage than and/or excess coverage to your health insurance.

Whenever you do have both health insurance and medical payments coverage, how and when to use each is like playing chess – you must carefully weigh each option and strategize the best move in order to maximize the use of these benefits.  GKT lawyers can help guide you on these chess moves to minimize how much you have to pay out of pocket for medical bills and to maximize how much compensation you may obtain for your personal injury claim.  To that end, medical payments coverage may be, but is not always, primary to health insurance.  We can review your policies to determine which one applies and in what order to help ensure your medical bills get paid.

Once you’ve navigated those waters, the next challenge arises.  Your auto insurance carrier paid your medical bills out of medical payments coverage and now demands it get repaid out of your settlement.  Can they do that?  Does your auto insurance company have a right to take back what they’ve paid on your behalf and if so, do they get repaid in full out of your settlement?

The short answer is….maybe, but do you want to repay your own auto insurance company for the medical bills it paid with medical payments coverage without knowing if your own auto insurance company is entitled to repayment?  The process of determining whether they get repaid can be tricky and requires an attorney who knows the law and is skilled in reviewing legal contracts to determine your rights and obligations.

If this sounds confusing, that’s because it is, but GKT can assist you with this complicated process to ensure that you keep the money you’re entitled to when settling your personal injury claim.

If you’ve followed along, Numbers 11 and 12 are thus TRUENumbers 13, 14, and 15 are FALSE.

Don’t be fooled by insurance company claims that you have to repay all or part of your settlement to them.  Talk to a GKT attorney, who can explain this process in a way that is easy to understand and will guide you on how to handle these back-end claims.

Call us today at (304) 845-9750.

How Do You Rank?

Medical Payments Health Insurance Test Scores

So……..how well did you do on our quiz?  Drop us a comment in our Facebook post to let us know:

  • 13 – 15 correct = MASTER
  • 10 – 12 correct = RISING STAR
  • 7 – 9 correct    = AVERAGE JOE
  • 4 – 6 correct    = NOT SO GREAT
  • 1 – 3 correct    = I’M SO CONFUSED, WAS THAT EVEN IN ENGLISH?

We Are Here to Help

No worries if you missed a lot; that’s why we are here to help!  If you’ve been injured in an accident and have questions, call us today at (304) 845-9750 for a free consultation.