Will Medicaid Cover Personal Injury Costs in Massachusetts?

After suffering injuries, victims may just want their medical bills covered fast and assume that filing a claim through Medicaid would achieve that. Unfortunately, doing this alone could greatly restrict the financial relief you get.

Like other health insurance, Medicaid can cover some medical expenses after you suffer an injury, but not nearly all. For example, while Medicaid might pay for emergency surgery or ambulance rides to the hospital, it will not compensate you for lost wages or intangible damages. That compensation would have to come from a liable party, whom our lawyers can help you identify and file a lawsuit against in Massachusetts. Unlike a Medicaid claim, a personal injury lawsuit would cover all future and current medical expenses, as well as missed income and pain and suffering. Intangible damages are typically great when victims suffer serious injuries, and only filing a Medicaid claim could leave the majority of your damages uncovered.

Call the Law Office of John J. Sheehan at (617) 925-6407 for help from our Massachusetts personal injury lawyers.

What Costs Can Medicaid Cover After a Personal Injury in Massachusetts?

When victims are unsure who is liable for their injuries or assume an accident happened due to their own clumsiness or mistake, they might turn to their available health insurance coverage for damages. For some victims, this could be Medicaid, which would only cover some losses after an accident.

For example, suppose you slipped and fell on someone else’s property, suffering a fractured wrist. Medicaid could cover all eligible medical expenses associated with the injury, but that is it. Medicaid would not pay you any compensation for lost wages you incurred because of an accident, let alone pain and suffering damages. In fact, filing a claim with the liable party’s homeowner’s insurance might lead to a greater recovery than pursuing a Medicaid claim alone.

Mandatory benefits under Medicaid plans include inpatient and outpatient hospital, X-ray, laboratory, physician, and home health services, as well as transportation to medical care. Opting for additional benefits, like prescription medications and physical therapy, could cover more medical expenses after an accident. If your policy doesn’t explicitly cover certain services, it won’t compensate you for them when you file a claim.

Filing claims with Medicaid for personal injuries might cause more stress for victims than it’s worth. For example, while Medicaid might pay upfront for your hospital expenses, you might be expected to reimburse those amounts after receiving a settlement from a future injury lawsuit. Because of this, it typically benefits victims further to investigate liability and file compensation cases against at-fault parties, rather than relying on their health insurance for relief. While Medicaid might only pay some medical expenses, a lawsuit could cover all current and future hospital costs, lost wages, and pain and suffering.

Risks of Expecting Medicaid to Cover Personal Injury Costs in Massachusetts

Relying on Medicaid to cover costs associated with personal injuries could leave you on the hook for many expenses and without means to pay them if you cannot work while physically recovering from an accident.

Expecting Medicaid to cover all costs from your injuries could cause you to delay your lawsuit. Victims might fail to preserve crucial evidence when this happens and risk missing the three-year statute of limitations for personal injury lawsuits under Mass. Gen. Laws Ch. 260, § 2A. If you assume Medicaid will cover everything, and it doesn’t, you might have wasted crucial preparation time for your lawsuit.

Personal injury protection insurance, which all drivers must have in Massachusetts, may cover more damages than Medicaid, but still not as much as if you filed a lawsuit. Insurance settlements rarely cover victims’ non-economic losses, but jury awards typically do, especially after victims testify about their pain and suffering in court.

Medicaid eligibility is income-based, and victims might already be struggling financially before suffering injuries that require considerable medical treatment and time off from work. In these situations, maximizing victims’ recoveries, which can come from filing a lawsuit, is paramount.

How to Get Pain and Suffering Damages Covered After a Personal Injury in Massachusetts

Injuries and traumatic accidents cause physical pain and mental suffering for victims. Whether you are hurt in a car crash or slip and fall on negligently maintained property, you might experience emotional distress and mental anguish because of your injuries, entitling you to intangible damages Medicaid won’t provide.

Such compensation must come from a lawsuit filed against the liable party. Depending on a plaintiff’s injuries, their non-economic damages could comprise much of their settlement or jury award. Brain damage, disfiguring burn injuries, hard-to-heal displaced fractures, and other injuries have mental and emotional consequences for victims that our Boston personal injury lawyers can quantify.

We can have qualified mental health experts evaluate you to assess the accident’s impact on your life. Experts can go on to testify in court so jurors consider their statements when weighing non-economic damages awards.

Underestimating your intangible damages and relying on Medicaid to cover losses from an accident could undermine your recovery while leaving the at-fault party unaccountable for their negligence.

In addition to not paying intangible damages, Medicaid doesn’t cover many economic damages victims typically incur. For example, medical services not specifically listed under policies might not be paid, and no compensation will be given for victims’ lost wages. This could be especially distressing for victims unable to support their families after suffering serious injuries due to negligence. Identifying the individual responsible for your injuries would let us file a lawsuit against them, during which we would seek compensation for all current and future lost wages. This can lead to long-term financial relief for victims who deserve it after negligent parties harm them in Massachusetts.

Call Our Lawyers for Help with Your Massachusetts Personal Injury Case Today

Call the Law Office of John J. Sheehan at (617) 925-6407 to discuss your case for free with our Wakefield, MA personal injury lawyers.