Money Tips For When You Suffer From A Medical Emergency

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Medical emergencies can happen in the blink of an eye when you least expect them. The very nature of an emergency means you don’t have time to prepare for it. Ending up in the hospital with a broken leg is not the same as booking yourself in for hip surgery. One is carefully planned, giving you time to sort out your finances, while the other hits you like a freight train. 

Aside from the devastating health problems caused by this emergency, your finances will take a big hit. You might not be prepared to pay for your medical bills, leaving you in a tricky situation. Today, you will find a few tips that might help you deal with the financial side of medical emergencies. 

Create an emergency fund

We’ll start with this tip, though it is something you should do beforehand. Obviously, you can’t predict when a medical emergency will happen. However, you can put yourself in a better financial position to deal with one. An emergency fund is exactly what it sounds like: a fund for emergencies, like a medical one. In essence, you set aside some money every month into this fund, only touching it when emergencies happen. 

Granted, you might end up using the money for a different emergency before your medical one. But, if you have enough saved up, you might still be able to use some of the remaining funds to help you out. Either way, having this fund is better than not having it as you take some stress off your personal finances. 

Get medical insurance

Again, this is something you ideally should have set up ages ago. If you don’t already have medical insurance, get it right away. It will greatly reduce the costs of medical treatments, meaning you don’t have to pay for as much out of your own bank account. 

Of course, there are limitations on what is covered under your insurance. In some instances, the medical treatments you need might not be covered – or they may only be partially covered. Either way, always check with your insurance provider to be sure that you don’t miss out on some financial assistance. 

Check your employee benefits

Do you work for a company? If so, you should have an employee benefits package of some sort. This can differ from company to company, but there could be something in there that gives you medical insurance or might offer financial assistance if you have been involved in an accident. Again, it does depend on the company – yours might not provide you with anything of the sort. 

Still, wellness programs and healthcare insurance are two highly sought-after benefits for employees. So, a lot of companies are adding in policies to help their employees afford medical care. Make sure that you check with HR to see if there is anything that can assist you in this situation. Who knows, even if there isn’t anything in your benefits package, the company might still help you. It’s a long shot, but they could provide you with financial assistance in order to help you recover faster and get back to work. 

Get legal help

Last but not least, go down the legal route. If you don’t have insurance – or even if you do – you should seek out a personal injury attorney. This only makes sense if you have been injured in an accident, which is where a lot of medical emergencies come from. Here, your attorney can look at your case and decide if you can sue someone for compensation. If someone else was at fault for your injuries, the chances are you can most certainly file a case to get enough compensation to cover your medical bills and then some. 

Moreover, it’s worth speaking to a lawyer if your medical emergency wasn’t due to an accident. A random medical issue could actually still warrant legal action. Especially if you went to the doctor about a problem, and they waved you away saying it was nothing. Then, a few days later, you suffer from a big health issue. A medical malpractice lawyer could argue that your doctor should’ve prevented this if they gave you a proper diagnosis. Regardless, it’s worth going down the legal route to see if you have a chance of gaining compensation. 

Try these tips if you want to make medical emergencies less of a financial burden. They will always come as a shock, but perhaps now they won’t damage your financial situation as badly as you expect. 

Thank you for reading!