What is a Letter of Protection in Texas?
Despite the many things you should be worrying about during a Personal Injury Trial Law claim, your health shall always be your priority. The most important part of your recovery is making sure you are treated and cared for accordingly. The Letter of Protection is a written agreement that guarantees your medical bills will be paid using the money you’ll be getting from your settlement and the hospital agrees to wait until the case reached a verdict.
If you do not have health insurance, you may request your lawyer to write a Letter of Protection (LOP) as long as you were not the at-fault party.
LOPs are not always necessary, but it can be very useful even if you have health insurance. Sometimes, they will refuse to pay for your medical bills and would insist that the at-fault party’s insurance should be the one to pay instead or if the doctor or if the hospital refuses to provide you medical services because they doubt your capability to afford the bill.
Benefits from LOPs
Assurance
Get all the required medical treatment that you need and guarantee that the full cost of your medical expenses will ultimately be covered by your settlement.
Save time and money
You won’t have the need to use a credit card or loan money that would take forever to get approved by the bank. You can immediately start with treatment and focus on your recovery plus, there won’t be interest charges.
It’s Legal
LOP is a legal binding document. Insurance companies will try to discredit your use of the LOP as an attempt to make it look like your lawyer and your doctor are conspiring to minimize your settlement.
What happens if you lose the case?
LOP can sometimes be used to delay the hospital or physician from immediately charging the plaintiff’s credit until the case is resolved.
But just like any other debt, the hospital or physician will now have the cue to the demand for the payment and you are still obligated to pay the medical bills.
Insurance companies would delay the process as much as they can until you give in to a much lower settlement. If you want to get fair treatment and compensation from an accident and you think a Letter of Protection would help your case, seek legal help immediately. A lawyer can draft an agreement with your medical provider so that you can begin or continue treatment.
