In New York State, we have what’s called no-fault, or the no-fault law. What this means is everybody who has a car insured, from the moment it’s insured and from the moment they turn 17 and get a driver’s license, part of what you pay to your insurance carrier for that car is no-fault.
No-fault essentially pays for medical bills and necessary medical treatment stemming from an automobile accident. Now, the insurance carriers will have you, or a client, examined by their doctors at some point after the accident to determine for how long that insurance company is going to pay for those medical benefits.
But no-fault is the system we have in New York. It is not a claim of who caused the accident. That’s a separate issue. But as far as who pays the medical bills when somebody is hurt in an accident, that is no-fault. That is your insurance company, the driver of the car, or the injured party’s insurance carrier.
I mentioned that the insurance company will have their doctors examine you. Just because they decide no more medical treatment is needed, that’s not the end-all, be-all. You have a say in that as an injured party. Your doctors have a say in that. And there are ways to compel insurance companies to pay the appropriate amount and not just what they want to pay.
So that’s the general no-fault law here in New York.