MedPay coverage
An optional auto policy coverage that pays crash-related medical bills up to a set limit, generally regardless of fault.
Collision Bureau is not a law firm and this is not legal or medical advice. It is general information about what happens after a crash. For advice on your situation, talk to an attorney licensed in your state or a treating clinician.
What it means
Medical payments coverage, usually written as MedPay, is an optional add-on to an auto policy that pays medical bills from a crash up to a set limit. It applies regardless of who caused the collision, which makes it useful in the early weeks when liability has not yet been sorted. The limit is modest in most policies. Common limits run in the low thousands, and whether a given policy carries any MedPay at all is a decision made when the policy was bought, usually long before any crash made the question matter.
How it works
MedPay pays medical bills from a covered crash up to its stated limit and then stops. The bills get submitted to the carrier, which pays within policy terms. On a crash where you have both PIP and MedPay, the order in which they apply is set by state law and policy language, and the differences are not trivial. On a crash where you have MedPay and health insurance, the coverage can function as a way to cover deductibles and copays the health plan does not reach, which is often where its practical value shows up. The limit is low enough that MedPay rarely carries a whole file. It carries the first stretch of it.
Why it comes up
It comes up in the first weeks after a crash, when the question of who pays the arriving bills has to be answered. The National Association of Insurance Commissioners publishes general consumer material on auto coverages, and your own declarations page states whether MedPay is on the policy and at what limit. It also comes up at resolution, because the MedPay carrier typically has a subrogation interest in a recovery from the at-fault side, and that interest sits on the ledger a settlement has to clear before any proceeds reach the household.
What it is not
MedPay is not liability coverage, and it is not a payment from the at-fault driver's insurer. It is a coverage on your own policy that operates on your side of the file. It is also not the same as PIP, though the two can look alike on a declarations page. PIP is broader and often larger. MedPay is narrower, generally capped lower, and simpler in scope. The right starting point for both is the same document, and the right follow-up is the same person: your declarations page, then a licensed attorney in your state.
Questions people actually ask
01How is MedPay different from PIP?
MedPay is narrower. It generally pays medical bills from a crash up to a set limit and stops there. PIP, where it exists, is broader and can also pay a share of lost income and other losses. Not every state offers both, and the two interact differently where both are available. Your declarations page lists which coverages you carry and the limit on each. How they combine for your claim is a question for the insurer and, when it gets contested, a licensed attorney in your state.
02Does MedPay care who was at fault?
In general terms, no. MedPay pays medical bills from a crash regardless of fault, up to the limit on the policy. That property is why the coverage is useful in the first weeks, before a liability claim resolves. Any recovery from the at-fault side later usually has to account for what MedPay paid, through the subrogation mechanism, which an attorney reads before the file closes.
03Should MedPay be used before health insurance?
That depends on the policies, the state, and the specifics of the claim. In some situations MedPay reduces out-of-pocket costs by covering deductibles and copays that health insurance leaves open. In others the order of payers changes the picture at resolution. A general information page cannot answer the sequencing question for you. The two documents that start the real answer are your declarations page and your health plan summary, and the one person who finishes it is a licensed attorney in your state.