Among bills being considered by the General Assembly this session is a proposal to drastically change Kentucky's no-fault insurance system. As it currently exists, no-fault auto insurance coverage, also called PIP (Personal Injury Protection) or BRB (Basic Reparation Benefits), pays for medical bills, wage loss and certain other expenses, immediately after an accident. It is referred to as "no-fault" because, generally speaking, you will get no-fault benefits from the car or truck in which you are a driver or passenger when an accident happens, regardless of who is at fault.
Even if you have a liability claim against an at-fault driver, no-fault coverage is important because, unlike liability coverage, it will pay your losses along the way, before the whole matter is settled. If you are missing work due to your injury the standard no-fault policy will pay up to $200 a week for wages. You have the right to designate whether you want to reserve your benefits to pay wage loss or have them applied to medical expenses.
Kentucky House Bill 381, sponsored by Representative Jim Gooch, provides for PIP to be directed to emergency services first. The injured person would not be able to direct benefits to wage loss. The bill also proposes a number of ways for insurance companies to avoid payment of medical bills. They would be able, without court order, to require an injured person to undergo a medical examination by a doctor chosen by them. The bill would also establish a complicated system for third party review to determine whether medical expenses are reasonable and necessary.
Nobody asks to be in a wreck. One of the hardest issues my clients face is the loss of income while recovering from an injury. While $200 a week is usually not enough to make up all that is lost, it can be the lifeline that keeps a family afloat until the case is settled or the victim is back to work. Rep. Gooch's bill would force a car accident victim to use his PIP benefits for medical care that might be covered by health insurance, while the victim likely has no coverage for wage loss. Under this plan a person who has paid two insurance premiums, one for his car and one for his health insurance, has simply lost up to $10,000 of benefits.
When the Kentucky General Assembly passed the no-fault laws in 1974 they said their purpose was to "encourage prompt medical treatment and rehabilitation of the motor vehicle accident victim...to permit more liberal wage loss and medical benefits...and to reduce the need to resort to bargaining and litigation through a system which can pay accident victims without the delay, expense, aggravation, inconvenience, inequities and uncertainties of the liability system." This bill undermines all those purposes.
Even if you have a liability claim against an at-fault driver, no-fault coverage is important because, unlike liability coverage, it will pay your losses along the way, before the whole matter is settled. If you are missing work due to your injury the standard no-fault policy will pay up to $200 a week for wages. You have the right to designate whether you want to reserve your benefits to pay wage loss or have them applied to medical expenses.
Kentucky House Bill 381, sponsored by Representative Jim Gooch, provides for PIP to be directed to emergency services first. The injured person would not be able to direct benefits to wage loss. The bill also proposes a number of ways for insurance companies to avoid payment of medical bills. They would be able, without court order, to require an injured person to undergo a medical examination by a doctor chosen by them. The bill would also establish a complicated system for third party review to determine whether medical expenses are reasonable and necessary.
Nobody asks to be in a wreck. One of the hardest issues my clients face is the loss of income while recovering from an injury. While $200 a week is usually not enough to make up all that is lost, it can be the lifeline that keeps a family afloat until the case is settled or the victim is back to work. Rep. Gooch's bill would force a car accident victim to use his PIP benefits for medical care that might be covered by health insurance, while the victim likely has no coverage for wage loss. Under this plan a person who has paid two insurance premiums, one for his car and one for his health insurance, has simply lost up to $10,000 of benefits.
When the Kentucky General Assembly passed the no-fault laws in 1974 they said their purpose was to "encourage prompt medical treatment and rehabilitation of the motor vehicle accident victim...to permit more liberal wage loss and medical benefits...and to reduce the need to resort to bargaining and litigation through a system which can pay accident victims without the delay, expense, aggravation, inconvenience, inequities and uncertainties of the liability system." This bill undermines all those purposes.
