Expert: Bennie719 - 5/14/2008

Question
rear-ended May 2007, other driver cited. Medical bills over 10K, 77 trips to chiropractor in 7 month.  Offer from ins company is $17600 total.  I feel I deserve more, what to do next?  Please explain how UIM insurance could come into play, thank you.

Answer
Hi Wanda,
Underinsured motorists only comes in play when the adverse company has made you an offer of their policy limits and that amount is not adequate for the true value of your loss.  You can first get permission from your own company to settle for the policy limits and open an UIM claim before accepting the check.

An offer of $17,600 would not represent policy limits.
All insurance companies are anti-chiropractic.  This includes auto, health and Medicare.  Generally, when the majority or all of your treatment is chiropractic, this reduces the value of your claim by 50% in the eyes of the insurance company.

The insurance company is only responsible for medical bills that are considered "reasonable and necessary".  It is possible that they have had your medical file reviewed by other doctors that issued an opinion that you over treated.

In cases when most or all of the treatment was chiropractic, the case is usually settled of an amount between 1.2-1.7 times your medical bills as opposed to treatment by a medical doctor and prescribed physical therapy which is usually settled for between 2.75-3.2 times your medical bills, depending on the severity of the injury and if there are going to be any disabilities or long term changes in work pattern or lifestyle involved.

I hope that you find this information to be of help.
Your feedback by rating my answer will be appreciated.

Sincerely,
Bennie
San Francisco Bay Area