Medical payments coverage

Medical payments coverage, often called MedPay, pays reasonable medical and funeral expenses for injuries to you, members of your household and passengers in your car after an accident, regardless of who caused it. It typically also covers you and family members if you are hit as a pedestrian or while riding in someone else's car.

Limits are usually small, commonly $1,000 to $10,000 per person. MedPay can pay health insurance deductibles and copays, ambulance bills, and costs for passengers without health coverage, and it pays quickly because no fault determination is needed. Example: you have $5,000 of MedPay and a passenger runs up $3,200 in emergency room bills; MedPay pays the $3,200 even if the crash was your fault (hypothetical figures). Unlike personal injury protection, MedPay does not usually pay lost wages or replacement services.

MedPay is optional in most states. Maine and New Hampshire require it on policies sold there, and Pennsylvania requires $5,000 of first-party medical benefits. In no-fault states PIP usually takes its place. If you have good health insurance and few passengers, MedPay adds less value, but it is inexpensive and fills gaps. It does not cover injuries you cause to people in other vehicles; that is bodily injury liability. See Medical payments coverage (MedPay) explained.