Medical payments insurance is a type of insurance that is offered when you’re purchasing auto insurance. It can be somewhat redundant in the areas that require insured’s to carry PIP (personal injury protection) insurance. Depending on the jurisdiction some need to carry the PIP due to that jurisdictions no fault laws. After an accident it will only cover the medical or funeral or medical and funeral expenses.

With this said not all states are going to require that drivers carry PIP protection and this is where your medical payments insurance would be practical. Even if you have PIP it isn’t against common sense to have medical payments insurance as well as your PIP can potentially be exceeded should the expenses be very high. It all just depends on your PIP coverage and what you are comfortable with.

Plan Differentials

Just like every auto insurance policy is going to be a little different; each plan that includes medical payments insurance is going to be a little different as well.

Generally the medical payments insurance is going to cover injury from accidents regardless of fault. The policy is also going to cover the passengers as well as a person that is on the street that gets hit by the vehicle and finally medical payments that happen to the passengers in the other vehicle. This is if the expenses exceed the PIP or the medical payments insurance.

The last part might be a little confusing but the other vehicles medical payments insurance will kick in before the other vehicles medical payments or PIP would come into play. That only happens if the other vehicles medical payments are exceeded. So the medical payments are much different then damage to the other vehicle should the insured be at fault.

To Purchase or Not To Purchase

There are some that say that this form of insurance is going to be for the most part unnecessary and a waste of money; especially if the insured already has health insurance and carries PIP protection as they view this additional coverage as overkill as the coverage does overlap.

On the flip side those that are not carrying PIP and should have medical insurance but it comes with a high deductible are going to benefit greatly and should definitely consider getting medical payments insurance to at least meet the deductible on their medical insurance policy.

Speak With a Professional

This can be a confusing area when you’re dealing with all of the nuances of the auto insurance policy and then throwing medical payments insurance into the mix as well. For this reason it’d be wise to ask your insurer (insurance company) or your insurance broker (independent insurance agent) for some advise as to what you might need to carry and find out what is and isn’t covered in your auto insurance plan.

If you go through insurance broker and they have written all of your policies you can have them compare your auto and health policies and determine if you need medical payments insurance and if so how much you need to carry.

Any reputable insurance agent or broker is going to tell you if there is no benefit gained by adding this to your policy so don’t be afraid to ask for some help before deciding to just purchase it.