Being involved in a car accident is stressful enough on its own — the last thing you want is to be blindsided by the insurance process while you’re trying to recover. One of the most important protections available to you after a collision in Kentucky is your Personal Injury Protection (PIP) coverage. Yet many accident victims either don’t fully understand what PIP covers or leave significant money on the table by not using it correctly. Whether you’re dealing with medical bills, prescription costs, or simply trying to get reimbursed for driving to your appointments, knowing how PIP works can make a meaningful difference in your recovery — financially and physically.
At Flora Templeton Stuart Accident Injury Lawyers, we make it a priority to walk every client injured in a car, truck, motorcycle, slip and fall, pedestrian, wrongful death, or other personal injury case through the PIP process from the very beginning, because the decisions made in the first days after an accident can impact the value of your entire case. Here’s a breakdown of what PIP covers and how to make sure you get every dollar you’re entitled to in your Kentucky car accident.
What PIP Pays
- Medical bills up to first $10,000.00 per person involved in the collision: More if you have excess PIP coverage – less if policy had a deductible. It is our office procedure to immediately reserve your PIP benefits so ER visits or diagnostic testing does not use up all of the PIP benefits in the very beginning of your case. This allows reimbursement to you for out of pocket expenses such as lost wages, replacement services, mileage, prescriptions, and etc. You can designate a treating physician to be paid from the reserved PIP benefits so your treatment can continue. You will need to provide copies of all injury related medical bills to your case worker. The bills are needed to calculate the value of your case and so we make sure PIP is in receipt of the billing due to your designated physicians. Payment is to be made within 30 days from the date of receipt. Payment can be delayed if the PIP adjuster is unable to obtain supporting medical records to review verifying that the treatment is indeed auto related. In these instances payment may be delayed until information has been provided to the PIP adjuster by the treating physician.
- Reimbursements for necessary purchases: such as replacing glasses broken during the collision, wheelchairs, hospital beds, crutches, walkers, special bandages, etc. Your case worker will need receipts for these purchases to send to PIP for reimbursement directly to you. Payment should be made within 30 days from the date of receipt by the PIP adjuster.
- Reimbursements for prescription: You will need to provide to your case worker the printout (not cash register receipt) from the prescription bag who will then submit same to your PIP adjuster for payment. Reimbursement will be made directly to you within 30 days from the date of receipt unless you are getting prescriptions through the Auto Rx program or have an account set up with your local pharmacy, then payment would of course go to the provider.
- Reimbursement for mileage for medical treatment (optional with each carrier): Each insurance carrier views this expense differently. Some carriers pay mileage and some do not. Reimbursement is a courtesy to the insured but is not mandatory. Mileage to be paid must be over 32 miles round trip. You will need to complete a mileage ledger providing the date you treated, who you treated with, and the total roundtrip mileage for the treatment. Return the ledger to your case worker who will submit it to the PIP adjuster for consideration of reimbursement directly to you. Mileage will not be paid for treatment with physicians over 32 miles roundtrip if you have a local facility/physician in your area that provides the same services.
Don’t Leave Money Behind
Navigating PIP benefits while recovering from an accident can feel overwhelming — but at Flora Templeton Stuart Accident Injury Lawyers, you don’t have to go through it alone. The key takeaways are simple: keep your receipts, communicate with our top attorneys and paralegals, and don’t assume any expense is too small to report. Lost wages, mileage, prescriptions, and out-of-pocket purchases all add up — and they’re all potentially reimbursable.
Our team is here to make sure your PIP benefits are protected and maximized from day one. If you have questions about your coverage, what qualifies for reimbursement, or how to submit documentation, contact us online or call us at 888-782-9090 24/7 for a free, no obligation consultation with our top attorneys.
