If you’ve been hurt in an accident, it can be tough trying to navigate the legal waters of who is going to pay for your medical bills. Especially when you need immediate care, a settlement or verdict in your favor in a personal injury trial won’t help, even if those are your goals in the long run. The legal process simply takes too much time, and you need care as quickly as possible.

So who pays for it? Put shortly, it depends on the circumstances of your accident, the state you live in, and the type of insurance involved. Read some information about how your medical bills are handled after you’re hurt in an accident, and how an injury lawyer can help your case.

When Does the Defendant Have to Pay?

Generally, the defendant is not responsible to pay for your treatments and care on an ongoing basis. You generally are responsible for your own medical bills, which will be covered by your insurance, up to your policy limits. If you receive a settlement for your injuries, it will be for a lump sum, rather than an “open-ended” ruling allowing for ongoing payments.

In the end, even if someone is clearly at fault for your injury, the law only holds that they pay damages to resolve the lawsuit—they are not required to pay for your bills as you incur them.

Slip and Fall Accidents

In premises liability lawsuits, or slip and fall cases, it’s a similar situation. The defendant is also not required to pay ongoing bills. The injured person is responsible for covering their medical bills, which may be paid out of a personal injury case settlement. Again, these damages will be in a single award, rather than an allowance for ongoing remittance. While you may get the money to pay from the defendant, you have to make the actual bill payments. This is why it’s so important to ensure that you get enough in your settlement to cover your expenses.

Injuries at Work

If you’ve been hurt in an accident at work, worker’s compensation insurance will be responsible for all of your medical bills, including deductibles. In some states, worker’s compensation laws require that the insurance policy covers your transportation costs to and from treatments and medical appointments, too.

Hiring a Personal Injury Attorney

When you get hurt, it’s vital for you to seek enough compensation to ensure that you can pay all of your medical bills. This is why you can receive compensation for more than your current bills, but a sum to cover your potential estimated future bills, your lost wages and future potential earnings, pain and suffering, emotional anguish and more.

The only way to get this compensation, however, is to hire an experienced personal injury attorney. A lawyer knows how to get you the compensation you need to make sure you can continue to pay those expensive medical bills as they rack up. If you’ve recently been hurt in an accident near Oklahoma City, give us a call at Parrish DeVaughn Law Firm today.