What’s Involved In Personal Injury Cases?

When you’re going through a personal injury, one question that many people wonder about what they’ll be entitled to. If your personal injury results in you requiring some form of physiotherapy, it won’t be covered by OHIP.  This will be an out-of-pocket cost, and that can be discouraging for many people. Another thing that isn’t covered is chiropractic treatment. This will be another out-of-pocket cost if you don’t have benefits through your employer. Finding a personal injury lawyer in North York is a good way to figure out what types of benefits you’ll be entitled to regarding whatever type of injury you’re going through.

OHIP also doesn’t cover occupational therapy. Some of the other things that OHIP doesn’t cover are:

• Psychotherapy

• Massage

• Cranial sacral treatment

• Nutrition

• Rehabilitation coaches

• Social work

• Speech-language rehabilitation

• Neuropsychological assessments

• Driving retraining

• Psychology

Many of these services are required for people going through a personal injury, and the road to recovery after an accident can result in a very long and tedious process. Some people are lucky with their benefits from:

• Blue Cross

• Manulife

• SunLife

• Greenshield

• Canada Life

A certain percentage of benefits might be covered in cases like this, but policies will each be a little bit different from one provider to the next. The unfortunate thing about some of the services is that they put a cap on the amount of money provided to the beneficiary per year.

Dealing with a personal injury resulting from a car accident can result in thousands and thousands of dollars of rehabilitation costs, among other things. Each and every person will have a different level of coverage that they are entitled to, and that will depend on the severity of the injury. If you’re going through a small personal injury, then you could potentially only have up to $3,500 in available benefits. 

If you’re going through a more severe injury, you might only have access to up to $65,000. For catastrophic-level 

accidents, there might be $1,000,000 of benefits available. Some people find themselves in very tricky situations, and they find themselves asking a few questions:

• What happens if I don’t have any coverage at all?

• What am I supposed to do if the insurance company won’t pay for my treatment?

These are legitimate questions, and unfortunately, things like this happen all of the time to people. If you find yourself in a situation like this, there are a couple of options available to you:

You’ll be paying for rehabilitation and treatment out of your own pocket, hoping to get reimbursement at some point from the person that was at fault for your personal injury. This option can result in expenses that will add up to be quite high, and you also run the risk of not getting all of your money back.

Another option is to try your best to work with the OHIP and see what you can get out of them. There are certain physiotherapy clinics throughout Ontario that provide subsidized services through OHIP. This is advantageous because you’ll be getting lower rates in comparison to other physiotherapists that aren’t subsidized.

The third option is to look for a service provider that will consider doing your treatment on a protected account basis. In a scenario like this, you’ll be guaranteeing that you’ll pay for the treatment amount once the case is settled. You’ll be required to sign a “promise to pay” document that will cover all of the services that you’re getting throughout your personal injury.

The best thing about the third option is that you’re able to get treatment without having to stress about all of the rules and regulations that are set up to receive services. You won’t have to deal with things like:

• Insurance exams

• Nonstop paperwork and documentation for approvals

• Insurer’s service platforms

You’ll get what you need, and you’re required to pay for it afterward. This is a very helpful and beneficial way of going through your personal injury because you’ll get exactly what you require to rehabilitate more appropriately. Keep in mind that your service provider will be including your personal injury lawyer in a lot of the documentation throughout this process. You’ll always want to discuss the options with your lawyer so that you know exactly what’s going on.

You can think of this approach as a hotel or a cruise ship. You’ll be given a card that you purchase things on throughout your stay. On a cruise ship, there are a number of amenities and services that you can purchase while you’re there. When your cruise ship expedition comes to an end, you’ll be required to pay for all of the expenses that you tallied up on the card that was provided to you when the cruise ship expedition started.

This is similar to how your personal injury case will work. You’ll always want to be mindful of how much your service provider is tallying up on your bill. Some service providers just keep on providing treatment without being mindful of that. Clients aren’t always fully aware of what service fees will be during treatment, so they just keep getting a treatment done week after week because the service provider says they should be doing that. You’ll want to avoid this type of thing from happening because it could result in a less than ideal outcome.

If you’re going through a personal injury, getting a personal injury lawyer in North York is the best thing that you can do. GSK Personal Injury Law has a full team of dedicated lawyers that will provide you with a free case evaluation in 15 minutes or less. From there, you’ll be more informed on how to proceed with your personal injury case. 

Another nice thing about GSK Personal Injury Law is that you won’t be paying anything unless your case is won. This type of confidence is a very positive quality for a lawyer to have, and can also increase your confidence in them to get what you’re rightfully entitled to.