Currently, about 40 million Americans have Medicare insurance.  Federally mandated coverage is provided to people age 65 or older.

In relation to getting medical bills paid, many people that become eligible for Medicare have found that those doctors – often internists and other specialists – are no longer accepting Medicare.  The reasons for withdrawing: reimbursement rates are too low and paperwork too much of a hassle.

Our firm’s personal injury lawyers in San Diego believe it’s important for people of all ages and coverage to get their medical bills paid.  When car crashes happen, the immediate effects are not always the ones that cause the most harm.  Sometimes, the lingering effects are the ones that do the most damage, and the medical bills associated with those effects can accumulate due to the repeat hospital visits.

What happens to a patient on Medicare when they get into a car accident?  Too often, these patients are not given complete care for all of the injuries they sustain as a result of the car crash.

Older patients on Medicare are more likely to suffer far more serious injury in a car accident because their bodies cannot handle high amounts of trauma.  Some car crashes can result in injures like whiplash, but lingering spinal cord injuries require repeat care after a car accident.

These days, there are two trends coming together.  For starters, there is a shortage of internists nationally.  The American College of Physicians estimates that by 2025 there will be anywhere up to 45,000 fewer than the population needs.  Add that to the possibility these internists will be unwilling to accept new patients, and this situation stands to only get worse.

Alternatives are out there, but none are easy.  For example, many walk-in urgent care centers are staffed with doctors who set simple fractures, do X-rays, minor surgeries and write prescriptions.  The majority of these accept Medicare for medical bills.  These centers are open 12-18 hours a day and patients do not need an appointment.

Please contact us for a free consultation with an experienced personal injury lawyer — we speak both English and Spanish — at (800) 655-6585.  Click here and you may also submit your case for a Free Review.  No fee if no recovery.