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Mobile, Alabama Personal Injury Lawyer Blog | Long & Waite
Thursday, December 6, 2007
Insurance Companies vs. Doctors
If you've ever been hurt in a car accident, you know that insurance companies try to persuade you to accept a far smaller amount of compensation than your injuries and expenses call for. A pleasant and courteous insurance adjuster will offer you something quite quickly, hoping that you'll accept it out of desperation. The insurance adjuster's job is to pay you as little as possible.
If you decline to accept this initial offering and instead retain legal counsel to fight the insurance company, the insurance lawyers will work to delay payment as long as possible, hoping that you will give up. Insurance companies don't make any money paying claims to people they insure. They make it by investing the money their insured customers pay to them in premiums.
In New Jersey, there's a bill in front of the State Senate that is intended to increase and speed up payments from insurance companies to doctors after car accidents. New Jersey ranks last in Medicaid reimbursement, and are facing a possible 10% cut in Medicare. Doctors would like to have the insurance companies pay promptly and fully what they owe.
Insurance companies, on the other hand, think that doctors are paid too much anyway, and if more insurance money were to be forthcoming, they would simply raise their fees.
Doctors reply by saying that failure to pass this bill will send New Jersey emergency room staff in search of better-paid jobs in other states.
The bill would require not only full and fair payment by insurance companies, but prompt payment too, within 30 days. If payment is late, the insurance company would be liable for interest, and for attorneys' fees and costs. If the insurance company were to wrongfully deny or delay a valid claim, they could be penalized up to $10,000 per claim.
Time will tell whether the New Jersey Senate sides with the doctors or the insurance companies.
posted by JennyK at 12:15 PM
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