Get Medical Payments Coverage to Protect Your Passengers

If you have decent health insurance, do you really need to pay for Medical Payments (Med Pay) coverage on your auto insurance policy?  While some states require it, others do not. If it’s not required, should you still spend the money when you’re already paying high premiums for health insurance?  If you care about your passengers, then yes, you should! 

Medical payments coverage in an auto insurance policy pays for medical expenses (and sometimes funeral expenses) for you and passengers riding in your car, resulting from an accident. It also pays for you or your family members injured while riding in another's car or while walking. Depending on the company, you can usually purchase it in amounts such as $1,000, $5,000, $10,000, $25,000 or $50,000 per person, per accident.  Of course, the more coverage you want, the higher the premium.

If you only have health insurance for you and your family, you may be protected against any auto accident-related medical costs, but what about your friends and other passengers who ride in your vehicle?  Of course, they might have their own health insurance, but they might not.  And health insurance doesn’t always take care of all the bills.  Health insurance often has limitations. What if there is a high deductible that has not yet been met?  Or the health insurance policy requires its participants to see certain doctors for care. An HMO, for example, might require its insureds to go to the HMO’s facility when an outside physician would be preferable.  There are no such restrictions with your auto policy’s coverage; it may be worth it to you to have that flexibility for yourself, your family, and any passengers who might be injured while riding in your vehicle.

If you happen to reside in a no-fault state, (currently there are 12 states that fit into this category)*, there is a form of medical payments coverage called Personal Injury Protection (PIP) which covers your medical bills, but may also cover other losses, such as lost wages, cost of child care, etc.  Some no-fault states offer both PIP and optional Med Pay coverage.  If your state does not require you to purchase PIP coverage, should you buy it anyway? As with Med Pay coverage, there are fewer limitations on where you, your family and your passengers can receive care, and there’s no deductible, so it starts paying from dollar one.  Moreover, if you live in a no-fault state and you have PIP coverage, should you, a family member, or the injured passenger need to take time off from work due to accident-related injuries, PIP will cover some or all of that loss.  Health insurance policies will not provide that for you. 

So if you have health insurance, and your state does not require you to purchase either Med Pay or PIP insurance, consider purchasing these coverages anyway to provide that added protection for yourself, your family and your passengers.

* Florida, Hawaii, Kansas, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, North Dakota, Pennsylvania, Utah, plus Washington, D.C.