Health Insurance Coverage or Paid Sick Leave For Motorcycle Accident?

There are many things that become an unfortunate reality in the days and weeks after a typical motorcycle accident. If you have been involved in a collision anywhere in the Los Angeles area, you will be dealing with quite a bit. Not only do you have your injuries to worry about, but you possibly must also deal with time off work. The lost wages alone can make it difficult to provide for your family’s needs in the interim. If you are fortunate, you will have health insurance to help take care of many of the medical expenses in the interim, and you might have some sick leave built up at work to keep your income coming in. If that is the case, a common question becomes if accepting these benefits will limit your eventual financial recovery from the case. Let us answer that now.

Benefits Do Not Affect Financial Recovery

The short answer in this case is that the payment of health insurance benefits and sick leave does not affect your ability to collect financial damages as a result of your accident. Those are separate benefits that are not taken into account by a court of law. In fact, it does not matter if you pay for your medical expenses out of your own pocket or if your existing health insurance company picks up the tab. Neither will make any difference when you go to file a suit and seek a potential settlement for the motorcycle accident itself. The court will take a comprehensive picture of how much the accident has cost you, both in terms of physical and emotional suffering, and work to come to a justifiable amount of financial compensation on that basis alone.

That being said, it should be noted that your health insurance company does have the right to ask you for reimbursement at a later date if you do receive a settlement based on the injuries that you have endured. This is on a case by base basis, and it by no means happens every time. Nonetheless, it is something that you want to be aware of. In the event that this does happen, you will have already received money in a settlement, so it shouldn’t be a financial burden to you. The health insurance company will not ask for reimbursement before you have settled your case.

Steps to Follow if You Are in a Motorcycle Accident

If you do have the misfortune of being involved in a motorcycle accident, there are some things that you can to help your cause at a later time. Naturally, the most important thing is to get yourself taken care of. If you are not physically able to gather names of any witnesses, help the police with their report, or take pictures of the scene then you should not do so. If, however, you are able to complete the aforementioned tasks, then you should do.

Taking pictures at the scene will greatly help your cause. As you go to seek reimbursement for your medical expenses and lost wages from being forced to miss work, those pictures will help demonstrate the severity of the collision and point to the cause of the accident. Proving cause is what will get you the financial compensation that you are entitled to. It is also important to ensure that police are called to the scene and that they complete a police report. This will be a critical component of any lawsuit, should you choose to go down that road.

Contact a Lawyer

As soon as you are able, you should consult with an attorney who specialises in this area of the law. A motorcycle accident injury case has many different components, and these can all become very difficult to juggle on your own. You will want a lawyer dealing with the insurance companies, negotiation with hospitals and doctors offices, and working to ensure that you are compensated for your time off work.

If you have been involved in a motorcycle accident in the Los Angeles area, contact our office for a free consultation. We will work with you to go over the case that you have and then advise you on your best course of legal action moving forward.