Good Samaritan Medical Center in Lafayette

As Lafayette, Colorado’s premier personal injury law firm, Cook, Bradford & Levy, LLC’s lawyers regularly provide accident victims with experienced, personal, and quality legal representation throughout East Boulder County. Being in Lafayette, one of our law firm’s assets is that we are located near Good Samaritan Medical Center, which is only a few minutes away from our main Lafayette office. This means that if you or a loved one has urgent questions about a potential case following a serious car, motorcycle, bicycle, or pedestrian accident, our Lafayette personal injury lawyers can visit you at Good Samaritan Hospital at a moment’s notice. We invite you to call us today at 303-543-1000 to set up a free consultation about your case.

After a catastrophic accident that has resulted in a stay at Good Samaritan Hospital in Lafayette, our clients often find themselves wondering basic questions such as how will I pay for my medical bills, who will pay for my medical bills, should I use my health insurance or auto insurance, and many others. At Cook, Bradford & Levy, LLC, our Lafayette personal injury attorneys have collectively represented more than a thousand injured accident victims and we are well-versed in the best way to pay for your hospital bills so that your bills get paid in a way that will both zero-out the hospital bill, but also maximize your net recovery at the end of your personal injury claim.

Whether you have a Lafayette personal injury lawyer near Good Samaritan or a law firm located further away, we generally recommend that injured accident victims instruct the hospital to bill their health insurance if they have it. Understanding that each case is unique and may call for a different solution to paying medical bills, large health insurance companies like Blue Cross Blue Shield, United Healthcare, Cigna, Medicare, or Kaiser, have likely negotiated a special rate for medical services that are far lower than the rate that a person without coverage would have to pay. For example, while a CT scan might bill out at $5,000 (this is not a real number, just an example), BCBS subscribers might have negotiated a rate of $500 for its members for that CT scan.

But the benefit of using health insurance does not just result in a lower medical payment. An experienced personal injury attorney in Lafayette, Colorado, will know the intricacies of Colorado law and, in particular, the concept of “billed vs. paid.” Using the CT scan example, this means that an accident victim can recover the full $5,000 for the CT scan from the at-fault driver’s insurance company even though the bill was already paid for by health insurance for a much lower negotiated rate. The principle behind “billed vs. paid” is that a negligent or careless driver does not get lucky and have reduced liability because the person he or she hurt happens to have health insurance of some kind. At Cook, Bradford & Levy, LLC, our Lafayette personal injury lawyers understand through our study of state statutes and jurisprudence interpreting Colorado’s statutes that Colorado’s legislature and Colorado’s courts have soundly and unequivocally endorsed “billed vs. paid” as the law of the land, and we help our clients take advantage of Colorado’s legal structure.

Many clients wonder about how their medical payments coverage from their auto insurance fits in. Our experienced Lafayette personal injury lawyers see this issue often with Good Samaritan hospital. The simple answer is that Colorado law allows Emergency Rooms and First Responders like ambulance companies to get paid from any medical payment coverage before they are required to bill health insurance. While the wisdom of this policy can be debated, the reality is that Hospital ERs and ambulance companies often provide immediate help to injured victims and therefore deserve to have the best chance at being compensated for their services. Therefore, if you have medical payments coverage or “MedPay,” Good Samaritan will usually claim that money before billing your health insurance for the remainder of the bill (if there is anything left).

If you or a loved one has been seriously injured and is receiving care at Good Samaritan hospital, our experienced legal team is available to meet with you and your family at any time. Whether you need us on a weekend or after hours, we encourage you to call us at 303-543-1000 for a free consultation so that you are not in the dark about the best way to do things related to your auto accident or slip and fall case. Our Lafayette personal injury attorneys regularly visit clients who are getting treated and Good Sam’s and we are happy to speak to you and help determine whether we can help you with your case.