Medical Payments Coverage in Auto Insurance

Medical payments coverage is a typical coverage on the Ohio personal auto policy.  We spend a lot more time worrying about the physical damage protection of our car than we do considering the financial implications of our potential negligence or medical costs and consequences.

Medical Payments coverage is available for your auto insurance policy and I estimate that 95-97% of my clients purchase this important policy coverage.  Medical is one of the coverage that gets grouped with liability coverage in discussion but it doesn’t much matter if you are at fault or not at fault in an accident for this coverage to apply.

In addition to applying to each member of your family injured in an accident, it also applies to each member of your family up to the limit of the coverage purchases.  If you purchased $5,000 of coverage then each injured family member has $5,000 for their extra expenses.  Most health insurance policies, either on a group of individual basis, usually require that benefits under the medical policy be coordinated with the health insurance payments to avoid duplication of expense.  When an expense might leak through the health insurance, or is not covered by the health insurance, then the Medical Payments coverage of your auto policy is available to pick up the expense.

Additionally, your medical payments coverage on an auto policy may pay (subject to limitations) funeral expenses, dental care, and prosthetics and other equipment and accommodations that might be required after a loss due to medical injuries.  Medical payments coverage in Ohio is an optional coverage and you are not required to purchase this coverage.  In most instances I include this coverage and you are free to remove it if you choose.  Typical limits for the coverage begin at as little as $500 and may range up to $25,000 (and more) depending upon the carrier.  A common limit is $5,000.

Remember, Medical Payments Coverage is not usually the first line of defense for the costs incurred for injuries in an auto accident.  With the cost of medical care increasing substantially it makes sense to consider more coverage than you may have maintained in past years.

Typical policy limits are as follows but some companies may offer other limits and not all companies offer the same limits as those shown.  Here are typical limits for medical payments coverage on the Ohio personal auto policy:

• $500
• $1,000
• $2,000
• $3,000
• $4,000
• $5,000
• $10,000
• $25,000