What is Personal Injury Protection?

Personal Injury Protection (PIP) may be described as an extended vehicle insurance that primarily covers medical expenses and at times, even wage loss and other types of damages. The unique feature of PIP is the insurance company is obliged to pay regardless who the offender is.

All about PIP

Some States have made the availability of PIP mandatory – although the terms of coverage may not be uniform in all these States. Strangely, some States permit PIP claims notwithstanding the existence of Workmen Compensation Act. Again, in a few States, under PIP the insurance carrier will compensate your loss, but subsequently recover the amount from the offender's insurance carrier.

In most cases, PIP coverage is rather wide and apart from medical expenses and wage loss, the coverage also includes funeral costs, claims of all the injured passengers in the vehicle at the time of the mishap and even pedestrians if they have sustained injuries due to the accident – though there are certain dollar limits and time constraints.

States that do not enforce PIP have Auto Medical Payments (AMP) instead, which is optional and not mandatory. In fact, some States that make PIP mandatory also have AMP as an option. Even in States where PIP is not mandatory, the insurance company may be legally compelled to offer it to you as an option. If that be the case, you should refuse in writing the PIP cover or you may be trapped into paying for PIP as well.

In states where PIP cover is optional, it is prudent to contact the regular medical insurance company to know what the restrictions of its policy are and then buy PIP to the extent necessary.

The salient feature of PIP insurance is that it is immaterial who the offender is in any accident. Thus, the injured person straightaway becomes eligible to claim medical expenses without observing time-consuming formalities.

Legal Help

Even with PIP being available, if you or a family member has sustained grievous injuries resulting in loss of limb or brain damage or any organ failure or other such severe damage, then legal help will become essential. If the injury resulted from the misdoing of someone else or some other institution, lawyers can assist the victim get justice and proportionate compensation.

Many personal injury lawyers offer free consultations and, in several cases, attorneys accept fees only after getting the compensation. The lawyer enlightens the victims about their rights and guides them through each step of the claim compensation process.

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