What You Should Know About Personal Injury Coverage When Buying Car Insurance

It’s crucial for Louisiana drivers to grasp the significance of personal injury coverage when purchasing car insurance. The state’s minimum mandatory insurance laws mandate a minimum liability car insurance coverage on every vehicle, which includes $15,000 for bodily injury for a single person, $30,000 per accident, and $25,000 for property damage. However, it’s important to note that this does not encompass Medical Payments Coverage.

Our Lake Charles Personal Injury Lawyers at The Delphin Law Offices review what every driver needs to know about personal injury coverage when buying car insurance in Louisiana.

What is Medical Payments Coverage?

Medical payments coverage covers medical expenses for you and your passengers if you’re injured in an accident. Med Pay coverage protects you regardless of who’s at fault.

While your personal health insurance coverage may cover similar injuries, the medical coverage portion of your car insurance is designed with automobile collisions in mind, so it can cover injuries and expenses not covered by health insurance. It is also no-fault coverage, meaning it covers you regardless of who is responsible for the accident.

Policies vary, but some of the specific expenses personal injury coverage can pay include:

• Emergency transport
• Hospitalization
• Necessary medical procedures, including surgeries and operations
• Physical therapy or rehabilitation
• Ongoing professional care
• Lost wages
• Death benefits and/or funeral costs
• House cleaning and childcare costs

Our Car Accident Lawyers emphasize that Medical Payments coverage is NOT the same as bodily injury liability coverage. Liability coverage only covers the occupants in another vehicle if you are at fault for the accident.

What You Need to Know

All too often, The Delphin Law Offices helps accident victims who face the sad consequences of only relying on the minimum required 15/30/25 car insurance coverage in Louisiana. What happens if you cause an auto accident and suffer injuries? Relying on your health coverage alone could leave you with massive medical bills. And what about if you miss work for recovery or extended rehabilitation? Lost wages only exacerbate your situation. It only gets worse if your passengers are injured or there are multiple vehicles involved with injuries.

• Minimum liability bodily injury coverage only pays a maximum of $15,000 for a single person—any additional expenses are your responsibility.
• Minimum liability bodily injury coverage only pays a maximum of $30,000 per accident—if more than one person is injured, any additional expenses are your responsibility.
• There is NO COVERAGE with minimum liability bodily injury for you.
• There is NO COVERAGE with minimum liability bodily injury for your passengers.

Our Personal Injury Protection Car Insurance Recommendations

Minimum liability car insurance coverage only provides very limited protection if you are in a car accident. Our Personal Injury Attorneys in Lake Charles recommend adding more coverage beyond the law’s requirements.

Medical Payments Coverage

The Louisiana Department of Insurance Consumer’s Guide to Auto Insurance states: “Medical payments coverage pays for medical expenses for a designated period of time following the accident, up to your policy’s dollar limits and it includes funeral expenses. Payments are made regardless of who is to blame for the accident. Medical payments cover you, your family members and other passengers in your car.”

Protect yourself and your family with medical payments coverage instead of depending on other drivers to be at fault and to carry adequate insurance.

Uninsured Motorist Bodily Injury Coverage

“Uninsured/Underinsured Motorist coverage pays benefits to you if your car is hit by a driver who has no insurance or too little insurance to pay for the full amount of your injuries or property damage. If you have Uninsured/ Underinsured Motorist coverage, any bodily injury you or an occupant of your vehicle suffers due to an accident caused by another driver is covered under this policy.” This coverage is often used to cover medical expenses from hit-and-run accidents.

A broke or bankrupt driver without insurance cannot help you, even if you win a personal injury lawsuit after an accident. Always insist on uninsured motorist personal injury coverage on every vehicle you own.

Lake Charles Personal Injury and Car Accident Lawyers

The Delphin Law Offices have experienced personal injury and car accident lawyers in Lake Charles, LA, who can help you when you suffer a car accident with injuries. Schedule a consultation today to discuss your case and the role of medical payments coverage in your car insurance.