Hi, this is Roger Ghai. And sometimes I get questions from people about whether they should actually use the medical payment coverage they have, or number two, whether they should actually purchase the medical payment coverage they have. So let’s address the first issue. Let’s say, for example, that you’ve had a $20,000 policy of medical coverage on your motor vehicle. What does that actually mean? What is it that you’re actually paying your insurance company for? Well, it comes into play in this scenario. When you’ve been involved in a motor vehicle accident, it’s not your fault or maybe actually the accident is your fault. Okay. And let’s say for example, that you have $30,000.00 of medical bills. So in that particular situation, regardless of whether you caused the accident or not, your insurance company, your automobile insurance company, if you had what we call medical payment coverage of $20,000.00, they would have to pay out that $20,000.00 to your medical, toward your medical bills.
The other situation is this. Let’s say, for example, do you want to really use it? Aren’t my insurance premiums going to increase just because I’ve used my medical payment coverage? And the answer is absolutely not if you’ve been paying, for example, extra premium every single month to your insurance company for what we call medical payment coverage. So the fact that you’ve used it is not going to increase, especially in the situation when the accident has not been your fault, but should you use it? Yes. You should use it for one simple reason, because you’ve been giving your insurance company money all these years for that very specific circumstance that may arise in the future. If you don’t use it, then there’s no sense in having the policy and paying your insurance company that money every single month. That money could rather go into your own pocket and you can do whatever you want with it.
So if you have questions about whether you should use your medical payment coverage, what are the ramifications of using it? Sometimes clients are worried that their medical payment coverage may have to be repaid if they use it. There are some situations where sometimes medical coverage has to be repaid, but even if it has to be repaid, if it does, then that can be negotiated. And there are some technicalities that you should know about in using your coverage because the insurance company may tell you that yes, it has to be repaid, but in reality, under the eyes of the law, no it doesn’t. So if you have questions of these nature or this nature I should say, please call me at 770-792-1000.