Tuesday, May 3, 2011

No-fault, no-thanks

As my daughter was climbing out of our mini-van yesterday, she hit her head on the top of the car. She immediately grabbed the top of her head, and as I was asking her if she was okay, blood began streaming down her face. Her husband was out of town, and so I stayed with her baby, and my husband drove her to the Insta-care. As she was being admitted, the kind lady behind the desk called her sweetie and asked her how it happened. When my husband replied that she hit her head climbing out of the car, the sweet lady’s demeanor changed, and she informed them that this would not be covered by my daughter’s health insurance plan but would need to be paid by our auto insurance, and if they chose to stay and get medical help a $75 deposit would be required. What?

The crazy legislators of the state I live in have passed a law that any injury occurring in or around a vehicle is to be filed with the auto carrier and paid out of the No-fault benefit. I am assuming that several bribes were offered by the health care industry and kindly accepted by the lawmakers of my state. So, for example, if your car is parked in your driveway and a neighbor child rides his bike into your car and falls and breaks his arm then your auto insurance will be responsible. Isn’t that nice?

Perhaps for her future reference, my daughter was given a paper explaining the No-fault Coverage Policy with a list of claim examples. One example explains that an attached trailer is an integral part of the vehicle and subject to these laws. So my question is this – if I had a trailer and had taken it camping and was cutting a tomato and happened to slice my finger, would it be my vehicles fault because I didn’t take the time to unhook my trailer?

Now if I choose to file a claim against my car insurance policy, then my rates could possibly increase. I have a $500 deductable anyhow, and so I will probably just pay this out of pocket. By law, I have to carry workman’s comp insurance for my business, and after two claims in four years, our policy was cancelled. Now, I choose not to file any claims. I am so tired of paying for insurance that I can not use.

2 comments:

Carrie said...

That is INSANE!!! I have not heard about this ridiculous law. Seriously twisted.

Stacy said...

Since I do billing for a urgent care clinic I can tell you this is a gray area and very hard to get paid by either the car or the health insurance. I think it is stupid as well....just for FYI the deductible on you car insurance doesn't apply to medical only property damage(at least all insurance policies I have worked with)....but you only have a limited amount of Medical and once this is gone you have to bill your health insurance. Easiest thing is just to say you hit your head at home. Sometimes too many details complicate the matter.(: