I’ve written before about how it can be hard to find a doctor for treatment after a car accident. A lot of doctors won’t get involved, even if they’ve treated the patient for years, if they’ve been in a car accident.

Here are two medical providers that will treat car accident injury patients:

Both providers will treat on what’s called a “lien-basis.” Basically, they will wait to get paid until you settle with the car insurance company to get paid.

My family doctor said he won’t treat me for my neck and back pain because I was in a car accident that was not my fault. He said he doesn’t want to deal with the other driver’s insurance company just to get paid. I’ve gone to him for nearly a decade, and I won’t be going back to them now. Where can I go for my injuries?

Assuming you don’t have health insurance, or your health insurance will pay, you will need to go to a doctor that will treat you on what’s called a “lien basis.” This doctor will wait until you settle your case to get paid. They will file a lien to protect their claim. Your doctor should be able to refer you to them.

I was in an accident earlier this week. My neck and back are still hurting. The insurance company for the other driver said I need to be careful with running up high medical bills. What should I do?

You should go to your doctor! I see this all the time, but it still surprises me. If you are hurt go to the doctor. It is certainly not advisable to take medical advice from an insurance company that has opposing interests to you. Tell your doctor all of your injuries, and do what your doctor prescribes. If you wait to go to the doctor, the insurance company will likely argue that your delay in getting treatment shows that you weren’t hurt or you weren’t really “that hurt.”

Simple: they want to protect their claim.  If they file a lien, the insurance company is required to include them on any settlement checks to you.

Yes!  But, your insurance company will want to be reimbursed (called their subrogation claim).

Have you ever noticed that what your medical bill total is not always what your health insurance company ends up paying for the bill?

Likewise, in some cases, we’re able to get our client’s medical bills reduced.  This is great because it means more money in our client’s pocket.

How much will a medical provider reduce their bill?

It depends, but the medical provider will first want to see what the final settlement offer is before they will offer to reduce a bill.

In reality, a lot of medical providers will reduce their bill by 10%.  Some won’t reduce their bill at all.  Based on my experience, EMSA bills are hard to get reduced by any amount.   To get the bills reduced by more than this, we’ll have to show a significant reason.  For example:  assuming the damages are the same, a disputed liability case won’t settle as high as a clear liability case.  The most an insurance company may offer to settle a disputed liability case may be for the cost of the medical bills (or even a fraction of the actual bills).  On the other hand, if we can show a significant need, the provider is more likely (but not guaranteed) to reduce their bill.  I believe the highest I’ve seen a medical provider reduce their bill is by 50%.

So, a quick answer: “sometimes nothing, somethings 10% or more.”