Will my own insurance company get part of my personal injury settlement? The answer is yes, no, maybe. Allow me to explain.

In Kansas years ago when a person would get injured in an auto accident the medical providers would sue the injured party to get their bills paid. These collection suits moved much faster than a lawsuit for negligence in an auto accident claim, creating a lot of confusion and financial problems for the injured party. The law was changed to provide for Personal Injury Protection benefits or no-fault insurance. It is now part of every Kansas auto insurance policy and most other states have some version. So what is Personal Injury Protection benefits?

Personal Injury Protection benefits, or what is sometimes called PIP benefits is a list of benefits provided by your insurance company which includes payment of medical bills that arise out of the auto accident. You must fill out a form and send the insurance company the bills, but usually, they pay the bills quickly.

In the law and your insurance policy, a provision provides if you obtain from the liability insurance company payment for these same medical bills you will reimburse your PIP company. It’s call subrogation. What it means is that you get paid for your medical bills, but you don’t get paid twice.

So yes if we get a recovery from the person that caused the accident and the liability insurance company for these same bills then we must reimburse your company.

There are exceptions. For example, the PIP company is not allowed a free ride, so we can have them pay their fair share of your attorney’s fee, which helps your bottom line. Also if there is not enough liability insurance to cover your claim, then the PIP company is not entitled to reimbursement. Also, we can get the policy to reduce their lien for any fault attributed to you. There are lots of other practical reason we can occasionally reduce the lien. Generally, in Kansas PIP company is reimbursed for the medical bills they pay. The rule differs from state to state.

Many other types of liens asserted against a personal injury claim with different law and rules applying to each type of lien. It can be complicated. We are glad to help you through the process.

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