Pre-Existing Medical Conditions That Can Complicate Your Car Accident Insurance Claim

These days, almost everyone has a nightmarish story about medical debt.  Sometimes it involves lack of insurance coverage, or else treatments so expensive that, even when your insurance pays its portion, your share of the bill is still enough to break the bank, but just as often, it is because you have insurance, but it refused to pay, based on an excuse that makes sense only to insurance companies.  Often, the reason for the claim denial is a pre-existing medical condition.  You are not imagining things if you think that insurance companies only like to insure people who are young and healthy.  The even worse news is that it is not only health insurance companies that refuse to pay for your treatment simply because you have lived long enough to have survived a few injuries and serious illnesses, or if you have managed to avoid these strokes of bad luck, long enough for your bones to creak simply because you are old.  Car insurance companies can also deny your claim, or pay less than you requested, because they attribute your injuries to a pre-existing medical condition instead of to the accident.  For help negotiating with an insurance company that refuses to pay your accident claim because of your medical history, contact a Columbia car accident lawyer.

Back Injuries or Degenerative Disc Disease

Back pain is a source of frustration to patients and doctors alike, because it is often difficult to pinpoint the cause or find an effective cure.  Insurance companies, on the other hand, tend to respond with a simple, “It’s not my problem.”  If you suffer a back injury in a car accident, the insurance will probably try to reduce the amount it pays you if you have ever had back problems before, whether due to a traumatic injury or degenerative disc disease.  It will claim that some of the treatment is for management of symptoms that started before the accident.

A History of Concussions

Concussions are the mildest form of traumatic brain injury (TBI).  One of the diagnostic criteria separating concussions from TBI proper is that symptoms eventually resolve on their own.  Despite this, previous concussions tend to compound the symptoms of subsequent ones.  If you suffer a concussion in a car accident, and it is not your first concussion, the insurance company may try to nickel and dime you out of part of the cost of treatment.

Clinical Anxiety or PTSD

Injuries resulting from a car accident can cause psychological distress as well as physical, and you might get diagnosed with clinical anxiety or post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).  If you already had a mental health diagnosis before the accident, the insurance company might try to use this against you, even if it was related to something unrelated to the accident, such as domestic violence or living in a war zone during a war.

Let Us Help You Today

The personal injury lawyers at the Stanley Law Group can help you get adequate compensation for your car accident claim, even if you have a pre-existing medical condition.  Contact The Stanley Law Group in Columbia, South Carolina or call (803)799-4700 for a free initial consultation.

Source:

americanbar.org/news/abanews/publications/youraba/2017/november-2017/red-flags-and-white-whales–beware-of-problem-clients/