What Is MedPay on Auto Insurance?

While many people have auto insurance to protect their vehicle or any other vehicles involved in an accident, they may not realize standard auto insurance doesn’t cover medical expenses for the people in your vehicle.

Luckily, medical payments coverage, which is commonly called MedPay, can step in and cover medical expenses for the passengers in your vehicle if they’re hurt in an accident — whether you were at fault or not.

MedPay is similar to personal injury protection, also called PIP coverage, but it has distinct differences. While PIP is a more comprehensive coverage, the main difference is that MedPay policy limits are typically $25,000 per accident.

But let’s dive deeper into MedPay, taking a look at what it is, how it works and if you need it.

MedPay, or medical payments coverage, is an additional feature you can add to an auto insurance policy and it’s designed to cover medical expenses for you and the passengers in your vehicle if you’re involved in a wreck. With MedPay, it doesn’t matter if you were at fault or not, your passengers are still protected.

MedPay’s coverage limits are relatively low, maxing out around $25,000 per claim. So if you’re involved in a major car accident and need to file a claim, MedPay may not be the kind of coverage that kicks in.

That could be personal injury protection, which typically has higher limits and covers a wider variety of things, such as lost income resulting from the wreck.

MedPay works similarly to any other auto coverage. If you’re involved in an accident and you or your passengers are injured and need to seek medical help (no matter if you’re at fault for the accident or not), you’ll need to file an auto insurance claim to seek coverage. Your insurance provider may cover the costs of their medical bills up to your policy’s maximum.

If you’re at fault or live in a no-fault state and get into an accident, there’s a good chance you’ll utilize your auto insurance’s MedPay coverage for any injuries.

However, if you’re not at fault for the accident and the other driver has sufficient auto insurance, there’s a good chance the injuries will be covered by the other driver’s auto insurance.

MedPay can also work in conjunction with you or your passenger’s health insurance policy, but it cannot work in conjunction with personal injury protection. Since MedPay is far less comprehensive than PIP, most people choose between one or the other. There’s really no need to carry both coverages.

Only Maine and New Hampshire require their drivers to carry medical payments coverage in their auto insurance policies. So, if you don’t live in those states, you’re not legally required to have it. But that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t get it or, at least, consider getting it.

If your state is one of the 16 that requires PIP coverage (Delaware, Florida, Hawaii, Kansas, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, North Dakota, Oregon, Pennsylvania and Utah) to be added to your auto policy, it’s probably safe to say that you don’t need MedPay as well.

In addition, if you don’t drive other people around much and you have sufficient medical insurance, you probably don’t need to invest in MedPay either. However, if you drive other people often, such as carpooling to work or hauling your kids’ friends to practice, it’s probably wise to invest in MedPay coverage.

Since MedPay isn’t used too often and it has relatively low coverage limits per accident, its costs are relatively low as well. Getting $10,000 worth of MedPay coverage may cost you anywhere from $5 to $25 per month while $25,000 worth of coverage could cost you from $7 to $35 per month.

The amount of MedPay you should get really just depends on your costs and needs. It also depends on your state. For instance MedPay in Georgia could cost vastly different than MedPay in North Carolina.

But if it’s going to cost you $5 more per month to get $15,000 more in coverage, it’s probably a safe bet skipping one cup of coffee each month and opting for more MedPay coverage.

With Clovered, adding MedPay to your auto insurance policy is easy. Simply fill out our quick and easy-to-use online quoting form (it only takes about a minute) and one of our many friendly, in-house licensed agents can help you add it or get a better price on your auto insurance.