After a car accident, a driver’s own car insurance must pay for your additional medical bills, after all of the available money in the other, at-fault driver’s policy has been paid. This means the injured driver first makes a claim against the at-fault driver’s policy, then his or her own. And that is exactly what our client did.

If you were in the same situation as our client, you could only receive this extra money if you included underinsured motorist (UIM) protection in your car insurance policy. Every person who buys car insurance in Utah must be given the option to buy UIM coverage. You must expressly accept or reject this UIM protection before you finish buying the policy. Usually, the additional cost for UIM coverage is very small.

UIM coverage provides a lot of extra financial protection for you as a driver. If you are in a severe car accident, you likely won’t have enough coverage to pay for all your medical bills, without UIM protection.

The minimum levels of UIM protection are $10,000.00 for one person in an accident, and $20,000.00 for two or more people in an accident.

If you haven’t added UIM protection to your car insurance policy, we highly suggest you do so today. Call us for a free consultation: 801-264-6666, if you’ve been severely inured in a car or motor vehicle accident.

If you think you have a serious injury (such as fractures or internal bleeding), first go to the hospital for an examination and/or X-rays. The doctors will make sure that you are stable and will check for life-threatening injuries.

Even if the hospital doctors do not find any life-threatening injuries, this does not mean that you have not been harmed. If you are in pain, a health care specialist should quickly examine you—be it your family physician, doctor of osteopathic medicine, or a chiropractor— to determine the source of the pain. Since the muscles and ligaments that stabilize the spine are particularly vulnerable to injury in a car accident, it is important to quickly establish whether your spine has been damaged or become misaligned. Your health provider will therefore order X-rays of your spine and/or neck.

Serious symptoms can result from spinal injury and/or misalignment, including:

• neck pain
• upper back pain
• lower back pain
• headaches
• whiplash
• pinched nerves
• organ problems
• limited range of motion

It is essential that you receive rapid treatment for an injured spine, particularly if the spinal vertebrae have become misaligned. As the soft tissue around the spine heals in the weeks following the accident, the muscles will again try to stabilize the spine—i.e., lock these joints down into their misaligned position. This can lead to a host of symptoms (some listed above) that may occur months or even years after the accident happened.

Your car insurance will usually pay for the first $3,000 in medical bills related to treatment for your injuries. You can also receive additional medical treatment without paying the bills up front. If you have been in a car accident and suffered an injury, contact an attorney to discuss the financial options available to you.