stress_head

Im expecting some bashing for this but here goes..

Im not covered by medical insurance we struggled to get cover when we first arived because my wife was pregnant..pre existing..bla bla

Anyway i had a accident at a race track riding a motorcycle, broken collarbone, its had to be pinned, now the track has insurance and i was told that it would be all taken care of with that insurance, had a letter today saying that $20,000 is the max they will pay out..

i have not yet had the final bill from the medical people but is 20k going to cover it or am i going to be left with a huge bill i cannot pay?

Do i have any options, my wages barley cover our living costs now..thanks in advance..

btw im English my wife is American, we have a 4yo boy and an 10 weeks old girl...

this is stressing the family to the max

fatbrit

If the final sum of all the bills comes in at $300k, simply file for bankruptcy.

If the final sum of all the bills comes in at $30k, negotiate it down as far as you can, and then arrange to pay the remainder off in monthly payments.

Don't let the hospital or collection agencies intimidate you.

Bob

This.

And talk to the hospital ASAP...around our way, they were very quick to sell the debt to agencies....they are more of a pain in the arse to deal with.

Alternative would be to sue the place you had the accident, if it wasn't entirely your fault.

SanDiegogirl

You have a wife a son and daughter and NO health insurance and yet you were riding a motorcycle around a race track ..... and now you are stressed out over the accident bills.

Pity you did not think of this before you went riding .......(yes, I'm bashing but what do you expect - a magic wand to wave away your debt?)

stress_head

i was expecting a bashing....

My job does not offer medical, my wages barley cover our bills, let alone a $300 pm medical insurance, and no the motorcycle was a friends..and i know there is no magic wand..thats why im here asking for options

i will contact the hospital on monday when the bill is suppose to be there, thanks for the advise,

fatbrit

There will be more than one bill.

Bob

There will be loads, from everyone who took a look, from each specialist, but the hospital might combine them into a single listing.

Our "local" hospital did this for all the doctors, nurses and facilities on site, but for "outside" contracted services within the hospital, we got separate bills from those entities, blood tests from one lab, another from the company that did the scan etc.

stress_head

i'll wait for the bill's to come in..thanks guys

md95065

What kind of insurance did your friend have on the bike? If there is any chance of extracting any money from his insurance company then it is worth a try even if you have to sue your friend to do it (it's nothing personal it's just a way of getting the insurance company's attention).

Also, if the track think that it should be covered by their insurance (even if only up to $20,000) then it seems like they may be implicitly admitting some liability so you could try suing them as well (I know this sounds crazy but this is the US and you need help with those medical bills). Just because their insurance only covers $20,000 that doesn't mean that you can't sue them for more than that. Heck you could probably even try suing them for being underinsured - a $20,000 payout limit is ridiculously low for that type of operation ...

caleyjag

All newbies on this forum should start their posts like this.

scrubbedexpat099

The $20k sounds like a first party coverage.

There is no suggestion that the friend or the bike track was at fault.

As far as legal action, well he has not mentioned any causes and I am going to guess his friend is unlikely to be rolling in it and may well be looking for the cost of the repairs to the bike.

On the plus side, the Hospital know that if you have no money not much point in trying to get it from you, they may sell it on.

Juswus

Speak to the hospital and see if you can set up monthly paments.

Also see if there is anything they have set up to help out people who cant pay their bills.

I got saddled with a $3000 bill with a hubby out of work and my shit wages, but after filling out extensive financial aid forms, I got most of it paid. And I have insurance....it's just totally shite and pays for nothing.

md95065

How very un-American of you

Seriously, though, you are almost certainly correct but that doesn't seem to stop some plaintiffs suing everyone in sight in the hope that someone might pay up.

ian-mstm

It should be incorporated into the BE site rules, don't you think?

Ian

Sally Redux

They probably had him sign a waiver beforehand. They do if you go horse riding.