Using Letters of Protection in Your Injury Case
A typical injury accident case has two things in common, almost no matter what kind of injury or accident it is.
The first is that the victim needs medical attention and care to treat his or her injuries, and that victim may not have insurance.
The second is that there is a likelihood of some settlement or verdict that the victim will receive at some point (obviously, the likelihood depends on each specific case, and not every case ends up in compensation).
The Problem and the Solution
Many victims who don’t have medical insurance, or else, who have it but cannot afford things like copays or deductibles, are frustrated. They wish they had the settlement or verdict money from their pending injury case now, because now is when they most need the medical care.
In the meantime, the doctor sometimes won’t even schedule the victim, if the victim has no way of immediately paying for services.
Enter the Letter of Protection or LOP. An LOP is an agreement between you and your doctor, that your doctor will treat you now and hold your balance until your personal injury case concludes. You also are agreeing that you will pay the doctor out of the proceeds of your injury case, no matter how much you receive, and no matter how it’s received (settlement or verdict).
Why LOPs Can Help
There are two major benefits to the accident victim, when an LOP is used, and both are pretty obvious.
One benefit is that the accident victim need not worry about being hounded by collections agents, or about credit being ruined by medical bills going into collections. Per the LOP, the doctor is holding the balance no matter how long the case takes to resolve.
The other even more obvious benefit is that the victim can get access to the medical care that he or she needs, when that care is most needed.
How It’s Paid
The money you get from your case, again, whether by settlement or verdict, will remain in your attorney’s escrow account, and your attorney is legally obligated to distribute the funds owed to your doctors according to the LOP.
After the case is resolved, your attorney can (and often does) negotiate your outstanding bills with your medical providers, because the less you owe them, the more of your settlement or verdict ends up in your pocket.
The more that the doctor receives via insurance or some other source already, and the more or less the outstanding balance is, the more or less likely the doctor might be willing to negotiate.
Agreement to Pay
An LOP is not excusing or waiving your medical bills–it is just agreeing to pay them later on. That’s why, if the case is somehow not successful, or if you receive less than you anticipated, you still may end up owing your medical providers the balances of your bills.
Call our Boston personal injury lawyers at The Law Office of Joseph Linnehan, Jr. today at 617-275-4200 for help with your medical bills and expenses after any kind of accident.
