South Jersey drivers and passengers who are injured in car or truck accidents are often transported to a local hospital near Cherry Hill, Camden or Marlton.
Upon arriving at the hospitals, injured victims will provide their insurance information. However, many injured drivers/passengers may submit the wrong medical insurance information.
When to Submit Your Car Insurance Information
One mistake injured drivers/passengers may make is submitting their private health insurance information when they arrive at emergency rooms.
Many injured drivers/passengers do not know that their auto insurance policies will pay for their medical expenses pursuant to the medical benefits coverage (PIP) they purchased on their policies. Injured victims may think that they need the at fault driver’s car insurance information to pay for the treatment, but that is not the case. NJ is a no-fault state, which means regardless of who caused the car accident, the injured driver/passenger’s own car insurance policy will pay for the medical expenses.
Therefore, when injured drivers arrive at the emergency rooms, they should submit their car insurance information.
When to Submit Your Workers’ Compensation Information
However, injured drivers/passengers should not submit their car insurance information if they were injured in auto accidents that happened while they were working. This situation typically applies to drivers making deliveries for their employers, such as florists.
When delivery drivers are injured while they are making deliveries for work, their medical expenses will be covered by their employers’ workers’ compensation carriers. Therefore, auto PIP benefits in insurance policies do not apply. See Injured at Work? Benefits You May Receive Under NJ’s Workers’ Compensation Act.
When to Submit Your Private Health Insurance Information
The only time that private health insurance is submitted after an auto accident is if the injured person was not in an “automobile.”
Under N.J. law, “automobile” means “a private passenger automobile not used as a cab or limousine; and a motor vehicle with a pickup body, a delivery sedan, a van, or a panel truck or camper type vehicle not customarily used in the profession or business of the insured.”
An example of this is when a motorcycle rider is injured after getting hit by a car. In this situation, the injured rider must submit his private health insurance information. The rider’s motorcycle insurance policy does not offer PIP coverage. In addition, the rider’s medical expenses are not covered by the at fault driver’s PIP coverage because it does not apply to a motorcycle.
However, there is a situation where the motorcycle rider’s medical expenses may be covered by the extended medical benefits coverage in his auto insurance policy, i.e., if the rider was riding a motorcycle owned by ANOTHER person. For more information on extended medical expense coverage, see What is Extended Medical Expense Coverage (Non-PIP).
Help After a South Jersey Auto Accident
If you were injured in an auto accident in Marlton, Camden or Cherry Hill, call Philip T. Ciprietti, Esq. to schedule a FREE consultation. Mr. Ciprietti has helped numerous car accident victims in NJ. 800-281-8695