Greenblatt & Veliev, LLC

PIP in Maryland

Nov 12, 2021 @ 11:33 AM — by Lonnie Greenblatt
Tagged with: Gorkhmaz M Asgarov Car Accident Insurance Legal Tips Motor Vehicle Accident

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Maryland Personal Injury Protection insurance (commonly referred to as PIP) is an optional, no-fault auto insurance coverage. In Maryland, the amount of the PIP is typically between $2,500 and $5,000.  It is a waivable insurance policy option and unfortunately too many Maryland residents opt out of the PIP coverage to save $30-50 from the overall insurance costs. Doing that is simply losing money when you get into an accident.  PIP is no-fault insurance coverage, which means if you are in an auto-accident, regardless of who is at fault for the accident, your medical expenses will be paid or reimbursed for up to the maximum amount of your PIP coverage.

If you are at fault for the accident and you don’t have medical insurance, PIP can step in to pay your outstanding medical bills. If you are not at fault for the accident and you are in litigation against the at-fault driver, PIP is still useful since it can step in to pay for your outstanding bills while the litigation is still going on.  Having this coverage puts more money in your pocket by covering your medical expenses from a separate source of compensation.

If you have a medical insurance, you can elect between health insurance or PIP benefits as the primary source of payment for medical bills incurred as a result of a motor vehicle collision.

At times, the decision to elect a primary source of payment for your outstanding medical bills may be an important one and here is why.  Medical providers love pinning all their charges on the PIP, because PIP coverage provides dollar to dollar compensation for the charges submitted by medical providers.  Any health insurance, on the other hand, has non-allowed expenses and cuts through the charges based on that insurance company’s agreement with the medical provider.  If you have an option of paying less through your health insurance, it is beneficial to elect using your health insurance, that way you can save more PIP money for yourself. You can elect to use your PIP as a secondary source of payment to cover your out-of-pocket expenses.

MD Code Ann., Health Insurance 15-104 (d) establishes the following: Health insurance policies and policies of nonprofit health service plans may not contain a provision that requires personal injury protection benefits under a motor vehicle liability insurance policy to be paid before benefits under the policies.

MD Code Ann., Property and Casualty Insurance, 19-507(b)(2), allows the insured to elect between health insurance or PIP benefits as the primary source of payment for medical bills incurred as a result of a motor vehicle collision. Maryland law requires a health care provider to bill a patient's health insurance for treatments arising out of a motor vehicle collision even when the patient has PIP benefits through an automobile insurance policy.  The law also requires the health insurance carrier to reimburse insured for such services before exhausting the PIP benefits.

Important distinction between your health insurance and PIP is that the latter has no subrogation rights.  In other words, whatever is paid to you through PIP cannot be reclaimed by the insurance once you recover for the same injury from another source. 19-507 (d). Your own health insurances on the other hand do have the right in include a subrogation clause in their insurance agreement with you, 19-713.1, and may insurance do include those subrogation clauses into their insurance agreements. It basically means, once you settle your personal injury claim against the at-fault driver, your health insurance will be able to claim back the actual amounts it paid for your treatment.

In any case, if you have a functional health insurance, it is beneficial to elect using it as a primary source of payment for your medical expenses.  Since health insurance reduces your overall medical bills through its non-allowed expenses provisions, and keep your PIP as a secondary source, putting more money in your pocket.

The important thing is to remember not to click on the button “waive PIP” to save $50 when you are applying for your auto insurance.

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Gorkhmaz M. Asgarov, Esq

is an Attorney & Counselor at Law with Greenblatt & Veliev, LLC, which is a litigation law firm based in Rockville, Maryland that provides services to individuals for personal injury, workers’ compensation, and criminal and traffic defense cases.[/et_pb_text][et_pb_divider color="#999" _builder_version="4.7.4" _module_preset="default" global_colors_info="{}" theme_builder_area="post_content"][/et_pb_divider][et_pb_text _builder_version="4.7.4" _module_preset="default" global_colors_info="{}" theme_builder_area="post_content"]The information contained in this article is general in nature and is not offered as legal advice for any particular situation. The opinions and conclusions in this blog post are solely those of the author. Any links provided by the author in this article are for informational purposes only and by doing so, the author does not adopt or incorporate their contents.[/et_pb_text][/et_pb_column][/et_pb_row][et_pb_row column_structure="1_4,3_4" disabled_on="on|on|on" admin_label="Authors Bio" _builder_version="4.11.0" _module_preset="default" background_color="#e8e7ec" custom_padding="|35px||35px|false|false" border_width_top="10px" border_color_top="#0d3970" disabled="on" global_colors_info="{}"][et_pb_column type="1_4" _builder_version="4.7.4" _module_preset="default" global_colors_info="{}"][et_pb_image src="http://www.lonnielawoffice.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/Vile.jpg" alt="John R. Vile, Dean Honors College" title_text="Vile, John 02-09" url="/our-lawyers/virginia-tehrani/" align="center" _builder_version="4.9.1" _module_preset="default" max_width_tablet="" max_width_phone="" max_width_last_edited="on|desktop" module_alignment="center" global_colors_info="{}"][/et_pb_image][/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type="3_4" _builder_version="4.7.4" _module_preset="default" global_colors_info="{}"][et_pb_text _builder_version="4.8.1" _module_preset="default" global_colors_info="{}"]

Dr. John R. Vile

is the Dean of the University Honors College and Professor of Political Science at Middle Tennessee State University. He is also the author of numerous books on the U.S. Constitution and related topics. You may reach him at 615-898-2596 or by email at John.vile@mtsu.edu.[/et_pb_text][et_pb_divider color="#999" _builder_version="4.7.4" _module_preset="default" global_colors_info="{}"][/et_pb_divider][et_pb_text _builder_version="4.7.4" _module_preset="default" global_colors_info="{}"]The information contained in this article is general in nature and is not offered as legal advice for any particular situation. The opinions and conclusions in this blog post are solely those of the author. Any links provided by the author in this article are for informational purposes only and by doing so, the author does not adopt or incorporate their contents.[/et_pb_text][/et_pb_column][/et_pb_row][/et_pb_section][et_pb_section fb_built="1" _builder_version="4.7.7" _module_preset="default" global_colors_info="{}"][et_pb_row _builder_version="4.7.7" _module_preset="default" global_colors_info="{}"][et_pb_column type="4_4" _builder_version="4.7.7" _module_preset="default" global_colors_info="{}"][et_pb_text admin_label="Related posts" _builder_version="4.7.7" _module_preset="default" header_3_font_size="25px" border_width_bottom="3px" border_color_bottom="#f4881f" global_colors_info="{}"]

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