PIP Coverage in Kansas

[Timothy H]

I was involved in a hit and run car accident My medical bills are $25k. I live in Kansas. I have $10,000 PIP coverage. I sent all my bills to my company Allstate. They are saying send everything over $10k to Medicare, and they will pay everything over the PIP limit.
They also said they only pay for pain and suffering if I have money left in PIP.
Is this true? Thanks Tim

 

[adjusterjack]

They also said they only pay for pain and suffering if I have money left in PIP.
Is this true?

Without reading your policy, I can only go by what I found on the internet which is this Allstate page about Kansas auto insurance.

Kansas Car Insurance Coverage | Allstate Car Insurance



Nothing in there about pain and suffering.

And looking at that page prompts me to ask why your Uninsured Motorists Coverage wouldn't pick up the additional medical expenses.

Again, I can't see your policy. I suggest you take it out and read it. Find the PIP section and the Uninsured Motorists section and see what's what. Don't rely on what anybody "tells" you. Read the policy.

If you want to scan the pages and upload them to your reply, I'd be happy to take a look at it.

 

[Timothy H]

I couldn’t find in policy. I did find this on their website from 10/2020

https://www.allstate.com/tr/car-insurance/uninsured-motorist-coverage.aspx

UNINSURED/UNDERINSURED MOTORIST BODILY INJURY COVERAGE (UMBI/UIMBI)

Uninsured/underinsured motorist bodily injury is designed to cover you and the people in your car for medical bills, lost wages and pain and suffering if you're in an accident caused by someone who doesn't have insurance or enough insurance.

 

[adjusterjack]

Summaries like that leave out a lot so you can't rely on them. It's what's in your policy that counts. You're going to have to look at your policy again. Read every page.

I located samples of the Kansas coverage parts but you are going to have to compare them with the same coverage parts in your policy and make sure they are identical.

First up is the Kansas PIP coverage part. I don't know how your limit is $10,000 when the options don't have a $10,000 limit. At any rate, that form doesn't have any coverage for pain and suffering. See if the page in your policy is any different.

fmh0564-09-19---personal-injury-protection-coverage---kansas.pdf

Next up is the Uninsured Motorists coverage part. This form applies to hit-and-run accidents. Except that Exclusion D on Page 2 bothers me. I don't know what "element of loss" means in Kansas. I can't tell if the policy excludes UM if you get paid any PIP or if it just limits UM to the difference between what you get under PIP and the UM limit. You're going to have to find out for yourself. Again, see if this form is identical to the one in your policy.

Microsoft Word - PP04576Z.doc (fmh.com)

 

[Timothy H]

Thanks T

 

[Timothy H]

Is this mostly true or false?
“Reality: Insurance companies pay many times more money to claimants with attorneys than without attorneys. Insurance companies are happy to make a quick payment to an unrepresented claimant that does not have an attorney, but that doesn’t mean the payment will be fair or reasonable—far from it”

 

[adjusterjack]

That's what attorneys all say. And it's probably true in large, complex injury claims.

 

[fed up]

You are likely to get 2 1/2 X your bills and then you can pay the attorney 1/3 of that. Without an attorney you are likely to get 2 1/2 X your bills and you dont have to split that with anyone

 

[Timothy H]

You are likely to get 2 1/2 X your bills and then you can pay the attorney 1/3 of that. Without an attorney you are likely to get 2 1/2 X your bills and you dont have to split that with anyone

so if my bills are $43,000 I should counter any offer under $100,000 ?

 

[adjusterjack]

so if my bills are $43,000 I should counter any offer under $100,000 ?

No. Not unless you can justify that amount. The theory that injury claims are settled by the use of multiples went out decades ago. Claims are settled based on their own merits.

If you want to demand $100,000 you'd better be able to tell a damned good story about what your injuries did to your life. The amount of your medical bills may not be commensurate with your injury.

For example, you could be in the hospital for 5 days, have major surgery, run up a bill of $43,000 and be fully recovered in a month with no residual problems. Is that month worth $100,000? No, of course not. Might not be worth more than $5000 or $10,000.