Expert: Richard Hixenbaugh - 5/13/2010

Question
I was in an auto accident where a guy rear ended me, but it's my insurance company that is causing me grief.  I have been seeing a chiropractor weekly for whiplash for almost 5 months and my insurance company told me that I had to get and IMA. I have $5,000.00 of med pay coverage. But the IMA doctor has a contract with my insurance company!  The doctor who performed the IMA was very biased througout the whole report in favor of the insurance company.  Is this legal and what can I do to get my insurance company to pay for all of my chiropractor bills that I accrue from this accident?

Answer
Hi Frustrated,

You must always keep in mind that no insurance comapny is your friend, not even your own. They do not care about you. Their only interest is in saving money because that is the only way an insurance company makes money. An IME is designed to minimize, reduce and deny claims. They are almost always in the favor of the insurance company. If your insurance company is reducing or denying coverage based on an IME then there are only a couple of options as follows:

1) Hire an attorney. The attorney will send you for another IME that he selects to combat the insurance company's IME. This may take a long time and end up in litigation.

2) You can either pay for the treatment yourself or put it through your regular medical insurance. At some point you will reach a settlement agreement with the at-fault persons insurance company and you will then either be reimbursed your self or you will reimburse your medical insurance company out of the settlement.

To help you indeveloping a settlement package, you should visit www.collisionwizard.com . This website wll help you organize all of your treatment and costs and will also help you determine the value of your claim.

I hope this helps
Richard Hixenbaugh