Medical payments coverage helps pay for medical expenses resulting from an auto accident, regardless of who is at fault. It covers costs like hospital visits, surgeries, and doctor’s appointments for you and your passengers.
Keep reading to learn what MedPay covers and how it differs from liability coverage.
- Medical payments coverage pays for medical expenses for you and your passengers if you’re injured in an accident.
- If you forego MedPay coverage, you may end up paying out-of-pocket for your medical bills when you are at fault in an accident or the at-fault party cannot cover your injuries.
- MedPay can cover injuries sustained as a pedestrian or while using public transportation.
What does medical payments coverage do?
Medical payments (MedPay) coverage pays reasonable and necessary medical and/or funeral expenses for you and others injured or killed in an auto accident while riding in or driving your insured vehicle. MedPay can also extend to cover injuries sustained as a pedestrian or while using public transportation.
Parties typically covered by MedPay (may vary by state and policy terms) include:
- Policyholder
- Policyholder’s relatives in the same household
- Passengers
- Other authorized drivers of your insured vehicle
- Policyholder and family members if they are injured while riding in someone else’s car
- Policyholder and family members if struck by another vehicle when a pedestrian or on a bicycle (in some states).
MedPay benefits normally include all reasonable:
- Hospital, surgical, and chiropractor expenses,
- X-ray expenses
- Dental expenses,
- Professional nursing expenses,
- Prosthetic expenses, and
- Funeral expenses.
Medical payments coverage is often limited to medical expenses incurred within a specified period of time after your accident (typically the first three years).
Is medical payments coverage mandatory?
A few states do require medical payment coverage. In a majority of states, medical payments coverage is optional, though some states do require it to be offered but allow drivers to reject it in writing.
What happens if I don’t have MedPay coverage?
If medical payments coverage is optional in your state and you choose to go without, you may end up paying out-of-pocket for your medical bills when you are at fault in an accident or the at-fault party cannot cover your injuries.
If you have adequate health insurance and your state doesn’t require this coverage, then medical payments coverage may be unnecessary. However, if your health plan requires a deductible, medical payments coverage may be able to help pay it. This coverage may also pay for other items not covered by your health insurance, such as nursing services, dental expenses and funeral expenses.
How does MedPay work with liability coverage?
If you have been injured in an automobile accident and want to make a claim against your medical payments coverage, contact your insurance company and first report the accident and injuries and find out how to proceed with your claim.
In general, medical payments coverage pays for medical expenses for you and your passengers injured in an accident. There may also be coverage if a vehicle hits you while walking. Medical payments coverage applies regardless of who is at fault. If you do not have medical payment coverage but have Personal Injury Protection (PIP) instead, then you, others in your car and pedestrians you hit will typically be covered, within the specified limits, for medical, hospital and funeral expenses.
If you are injured due to the fault of another driver, you can make a claim against the at-fault party’s bodily injury liability coverage. Claims for bodily injury may be for medical bills, loss of income or pain and suffering.
When making a claim for medical expenses — whether it is through MedPay, PIP or someone else’s bodily injury liability coverage — make sure that you have evidence of injuries and documentation of your medical expenses.
How do liability car insurance and MedPay differ?
Bodily injury liability insurance covers others that you are responsible for, while medical payment covers your own injuries that you sustained in a car accident.
Bodily Injury (BI) liability coverage normally pays for injuries to others when you are legally liable for an accident involving your automobile. Your insurance company will pay for injuries up to the limits of your policy and provide legal representation if you get sued. In some no-fault states, bodily injury insurance is limited — typically just paying for severe injury or death because your personal injury protection (PIP) would be used for less serious injuries.
Medical payments is an optional coverage that you would purchase to cover your medical expenses arising from a car accident. This coverage pays for medical expenses for bodily injury up to your policy’s limit.
MedPay covers your medical expenses, plus those of your family members or passengers, regardless of fault. It applies whether you are in your automobile or someone else’s or if you are hit by an automobile while walking or bicycling.
Ask the Insurance Expert
Laura Longero
Executive Editor
Laura Longero is an insurance expert and Executive Editor at CarInsurance.com, where she specializes in helping consumers navigate the complexities of the financial and insurance industries. She has 15 years of experience educating people about finance and car insurance. Prior to joining CarInsurance.com, she worked as a reporter and editor at the USA Today Network. Her expertise provides readers with practical guidance, helping them make informed choices about their financial and insurance needs.
Ask the Insurance Expert
John McCormick
Editorial Director
John is the editorial director for CarInsurance.com, Insurance.com and Insure.com. Before joining QuinStreet, John was a deputy editor at The Wall Street Journal and had been an editor and reporter at a number of other media outlets where he covered insurance, personal finance, and technology.
Ask the Insurance Expert
Leslie Kasperowicz
Executive Editor
Leslie Kasperowicz is an insurance educator and content creation professional with nearly two decades of experience first directly in the insurance industry at Farmers Insurance and then as a writer, researcher, and educator for insurance shoppers writing for sites like ExpertInsuranceReviews.com and InsuranceHotline.com and managing content, now at CarInsurance.com.
Ask the Insurance Expert
Nupur Gambhir
Managing Editor
Nupur Gambhir is a content editor and licensed life, health, and disability insurance expert. She has extensive experience bringing brands to life and has built award-nominated campaigns for travel and tech. Her insurance expertise has been featured in Bloomberg News, Forbes Advisor, CNET, Fortune, Slate, Real Simple, Lifehacker, The Financial Gym, and the end-of-life planning service.