QuestionOn June 2nd 2009 I was rearended coming off and off ramp from a freeway. I felt fine the first day but the next I immediately felt pain and sought a chiropractor. I suffered whiplash. I started seeing a chiropracter on the 3rd and have done so twice a week since. A week after the accident I went and got x rays done and nothing looked bad although I had soft tissue damage. It is now time for the chiropracter to discharge me and the insurance co (all state) wants to settle the claim. The total medical bills are over $6,000. The insurance co offered me $2,500 for a settlement and I stated that I expected something more in the $7,500 range. She said it wasn't a major accident but she could give me $4,000. I asked her if there was any way to get closer to the $7,500 I requested and she said she could only increase it by another $400. So I told her on the phone that I would settle for the $4,400. Now I am starting to think that its not right. I will still have to see the chiropracter once in a while as needed, and visits cost on average $180. Am I getting a proper settlement? Is it too late to renegotiate?
AnswerHi Carter,
First off, I assume that this is cash in your pocket, correct? In other words, your own insurance paid the chiropractor and then ON TOP OF the $6,000 specials, they gave you $4,400, for a TOTAL settlement of $10,400. Your own insurer will be paid what it paid for the doctor bills. The tortfeasor’s company will pay them out of the total settlement amount. If this is the case, you did OK without using any of the insurance secrets www.settlementcentral.com injury settlements.
Thus, by not even putting in a demand letter or doing any of the things we teach injured victims to do, you got a settlement of 1.7 times your chiropractic specials. That is not bad at all.
Let’s say you hired an attorney, she would have had to make a settlement of over $15,700 in order to pay her fees and the $6,000 your own insurance will get, leaving you the $4,400. In truth, many attorneys would be lucky to get even $14K to $15K on such a claim, so I think that you did very well.
Technically, you have reached a contract for settlement, and it could be enforced if she sent an email. BUT they will let you nibble a bit just to make things right. Why don’t you write and tell her that you still hurt and you would like to have just a few more treatments covered. Ask her if she could add $250. Any more than that and she will balk.
I would not try to set aside the agreement unless you are not healed. But you say that your doctor has released you, so how can you claim more damages?
Now, what in the world is your doc doing to merit $180 per visit? THAT borders on theft for chiropractic care.
If you want to continue with care, find out if your health insurer will pay. Or find out if your auto insurer first party coverage will continue. The MINIMUM coverage for PIP or MedPay is 1 year.
I trust my time here has been of benefit to you, and thus I respectfully request that you take a moment to locate the FEEDBACK FORUM on this site and to leave some feedback for me.
Dr. Settlement, J.D. (Juris Doctor)
www.SettlementCentral.Com
