I bought a new car yesterday, shopped around looking for insurance (I'm with GEICO right now) and Progressive was by far the cheapest. 25+ dollars cheaper than anywhere else per month.
I go through everything, get the quote and pick exactly what I want, price is great and everything looks fine. Already put in my social before I got the quote so no issues with that.
2nd to last screen where I'm actually buying the insurance they ask for my drivers license number. I put it in.
And suddenly my price jumps 21 dollars a month. Because of an accident in June of 2016, where I was a passenger in an Uber, and we got hit from behind while stopped at a red light. I slammed my head into the dashboard (i was sitting front passenger seat) had to go to the hospital because i had numbness down my arm and in my fingers so they made me go. MRI and all that.
My medical benefits through my car insurance was 5k. By far the biggest waste of money I have ever seen. When I purchased the Geico policy, the agent on the phone asked me if i had medical insurance and what my deductible was. At the time my deductible was 5500. The agent on the phone explained that I should take 5k in first party medical benefits to pay my deductible incase I had medical expenses after a car accident.
Well they were wrong, and the only thing my medical benefits did was reduce the amount of money my health insurance had to pay. Geico sent the hospital a 5,000 dollar check, and then the hospital billed my health insurance, so I was still responsible for my 5500 dollar deductible. I have no idea why anyone would take the medical benefits on car insurance if they already have health insurance, the only person it helps in that case is your own health insurance company.
Anyways, because of Geico paying 5k in PIP benefits, my quote went up 21 dollars a month. Despite being a passenger in essentially a taxi, I get screwed. The medical benefits cost me money up front and was completely useless when i needed to use it, and now is costing me even more money. If I didn't have medical benefits on my geico policy, I would have zero issue right now getting the original quoted price.
Do I have any recourse besides going after the driver of the car who hit the car I was in? When I called progressive, one person told me that customer service could override this if I provided proof that I was a passenger and not driving at the time of accident, then they put another person on the phone who told me there was nothing I could do, if they paid any PIP benefits it gets used against me and can't be fixed.
I'm in Pennsylvania by the way. Accident happened in PA too.
Thanks for any help/advice anyone on here can give me.
However not every company rates it the same way. If you shop it (and I strongly suggest you use an independent agent rather than go direct as they represent multiple companies) explain upfront what your situation is and they can direct you to a carrier that either does not charge for it or at least charges less than others.
I get the theory behind it, but on no planet should my medical benefits from my car insurance be paid to the hospital rather than paying my deductible.
Couldn't Geico have paid you the $5,000?
This should have been a financial god-send because that $5K would have paid off your entire annual deductible for health insurance.
How did the hospital apply that $5K to the bill? Did they pay down the entire contractual rate (based on health insurance)? Or the rate that the hospital charges without insurance?
Call a lawyer.
But is auto insurance required to pay off the hospital directly?
In today's high deductible era, it's beneficial to the insured if they can leverage that pay off in order to meet their deductible.
If not, it begs the question, what is the point of medical payments if the insured already has health insurance?
Either way - sounds like Progressive is still going to save you $4 a month. If you can get your $5000 back (or even two-thirds of it after attorney's fees) you should be delighted by the Progressive rate.
Bottom line is whenever an auto insurance carrier pays a claim on your behalf and does not recoup the loss it is considered chargable.
What was the nature of the accident? What did the Uber driver hit? If it were another private passenger vehicle owned by an individual then PIP should have applied. If that is the case then your health insurance would not have been involved at all. Geico would have paid the entire claim. If no private passenger vehicle were involved than the way is was paid is correct under med pay not PIP.
But in today's world requiring all US citizens to possess health insurance, what is the purpose of Auto Insurance Medical payments?
I fully comprehend the idea of "first party" medical benefits, but that seems like a completely dated service as most people possess medical insurance.
Even for the minority of people that don't possess medical insurance, the Medical payment coverage tiers are horrifically low for today's healthcare prices.
The first party benefits are required by the state of PA since it is a no fault state. Once I go to the hospital I have no choice but to use my geico policy as my primary insurance because it is reported to them that it was from an auto accident.
It's mind numbing that the 5k benefits don't go towards my deductible, but that apparently is the way it is.
Spoke to my lawyer yesterday and he said we will have to go after the insurance company/driver of the vehicle that hit the uber i was in to get that increase per year back.
What a mess. I just added the car to my geico policy for now until I can figure it all out