MEDICAL PAYMENTS COVERAGE THAT PROTECTS YOU AFTER ANY ACCIDENT
Mountain West drivers face serious medical costs after accidents—ambulance bills averaging $800-$1,000, emergency room visits costing $1,200-$2,000, and health insurance deductibles that can reach $5,000 or more before your coverage even begins. As an independent brokerage serving Wyoming, Colorado, Utah, and Montana, we compare 20+ carriers to find Medical Payments coverage that pays your medical bills immediately after any accident regardless of who's at fault—covering you, your passengers, and even family members hit by cars while walking, all without deductibles or waiting for fault determination that can take months. We're local experts who answer the phone, explain coverage in plain English, and make sure your family isn't buried in medical bills while insurance companies spend weeks or months figuring out who caused the accident.
COMPREHENSIVE MEDICAL PAYMENTS PROTECTION
No-fault coverage that pays your medical bills immediately, without deductibles or waiting
IMMEDIATE PAYMENT WITHOUT FAULT DETERMINATION
The biggest problem with relying solely on liability insurance or health insurance after an accident is the waiting—liability claims require weeks or months of investigation to determine who caused the accident before anyone pays your medical bills, while health insurance companies often delay accident-related claims while they investigate whether someone else should pay, leaving you stuck with collection notices and mounting bills while insurance companies argue about responsibility. Medical Payments coverage eliminates this entire nightmare by paying your accident-related medical expenses immediately regardless of who caused the collision, whether you're 100% at fault or completely blameless—the coverage activates automatically the moment a covered accident occurs, providing first-dollar payment without any deductible for ambulance services, emergency room care, hospital stays, surgery, X-rays and diagnostic imaging, rehabilitation therapy, chiropractic care, dental repairs from accident injuries, and even funeral expenses if injuries are fatal. This means when you're rear-ended at a Casper intersection or hit a deer on Highway 287 outside Fort Collins, you have immediate access to $5,000 or $10,000 in medical expense coverage to pay bills as they arrive—not six months later after fault investigations conclude and liability carriers finally agree to pay, and not after satisfying a $2,500 health insurance deductible that wipes out your emergency fund. We structure Medical Payments coverage specifically for Mountain West accident scenarios where immediate medical care is critical but fault determination takes time—covering you when you need it most, not when insurance companies finally finish their investigations.
COVERAGE THAT FILLS HEALTH INSURANCE GAPS
Most people assume their health insurance will cover accident injuries without realizing the massive gaps that emerge in real accident scenarios—health insurance deductibles averaging $1,500-$5,000 must be paid entirely out-of-pocket before coverage begins, co-insurance typically requires you to pay 20-30% of all bills even after meeting your deductible, many health plans have network restrictions that don't apply during emergency accidents where you're taken to the nearest hospital regardless of network status, and health insurance companies routinely delay accident-related claims for weeks or months while investigating whether the accident was someone else's fault and whether they can recover costs through subrogation against the at-fault driver's liability insurance. Medical Payments coverage solves all these problems simultaneously by paying your out-of-pocket health insurance costs immediately—if you have a $3,000 health insurance deductible and select $5,000 in MedPay limits, your MedPay pays that $3,000 deductible instantly so health insurance can begin covering remaining expenses, plus MedPay covers your health insurance co-pays and co-insurance obligations, pays for services your health insurance doesn't cover like chiropractic care or certain rehabilitation therapies, and activates immediately without waiting for your health insurer to finish investigating who should ultimately pay. For example, if you're injured in a serious accident requiring $15,000 in medical care and you have a $2,500 health insurance deductible with 20% co-insurance, your out-of-pocket costs would normally be $2,500 (deductible) plus $2,500 (20% of remaining $12,500) for a total of $5,000—but with $5,000 MedPay coverage, you pay nothing out of pocket because MedPay covers your entire deductible and co-insurance obligations. We customize Medical Payments limits based on your specific health insurance deductible and out-of-pocket maximum—typically recommending MedPay limits that match or exceed your health insurance deductible so you're never writing a check for accident-related medical care, turning your health insurance from a delayed, deductible-laden process into comprehensive immediate protection when combined with appropriate MedPay coverage.
Local expertise matters
Independent agency committed to providing transparent, straightforward insurance solutions for Wyoming and Northern Colorado residents.
REAL MEDICAL PAYMENT SCENARIOS, REAL PROTECTION
Medical Payments coverage that stands between you and devastating out-of-pocket medical costs
When Your Health Insurance Deductible Hits Hard
You're involved in a serious accident on I-25 near Cheyenne during winter conditions—not your fault, the other driver slid on ice and hit you—and you're transported by ambulance to the emergency room with injuries requiring CT scans, multiple X-rays, overnight observation, and follow-up care with an orthopedic specialist over the next several weeks. The total medical bills reach $12,000, but your high-deductible health plan requires you to pay the first $3,500 out of pocket before insurance pays anything, plus you owe 20% co-insurance on the remaining $8,500 (another $1,700), meaning your total out-of-pocket cost is $5,200 even with health insurance—and health insurance companies typically take 30-60 days to process accident-related claims while investigating whether they can recover costs from the at-fault driver's insurance, leaving you paying bills immediately while waiting for potential reimbursement that may take months and may never come if the other driver's liability limits are inadequate or disputed. Without Medical Payments coverage, you're writing a $5,200 check from your emergency fund (if you have one) or putting massive medical bills on credit cards while waiting for the at-fault driver's insurance company to complete their investigation, accept liability, and eventually reimburse your health insurance company who might then refund your deductible and co-insurance—a process that routinely takes six months to a year and often results in you never recovering your full out-of-pocket costs because liability insurers dispute claim amounts or the at-fault driver has minimal coverage. With $5,000 in Medical Payments coverage, your insurance company pays your $3,500 health insurance deductible immediately plus $1,500 toward your co-insurance obligations, reducing your out-of-pocket cost from $5,200 to just $700—and that payment happens within 10-30 days of submitting your medical bills, not after months of fault investigation and liability negotiation. We structure Medical Payments limits specifically to match or exceed your health insurance deductible, typically recommending $5,000 limits for customers with $2,500-$3,500 deductibles and $10,000 limits for customers with $5,000+ deductibles or high co-insurance obligations—ensuring accident injuries don't become financial emergencies on top of physical trauma, and giving you immediate access to funds that cover your health insurance gaps while fault determination and liability processes unfold over many months.
When You're At Fault But Still Injured
You're driving home to Rock Springs after a long shift in the oil field, fatigue catches up with you, and you drift off the road striking a guardrail—entirely your fault, no other vehicles involved—and the impact deploys your airbags and leaves you with facial lacerations from airbag deployment, broken ribs from seatbelt restraint, and a concussion requiring immediate emergency room treatment, CT scans to check for internal injuries, overnight hospitalization for observation, and weeks of follow-up care including pain management and physical therapy for rib injuries. Your medical bills total $18,000 between ambulance transport, emergency room care, imaging, hospital stay, and follow-up treatment—but because you caused the accident yourself, no liability insurance will cover your injuries (liability insurance only pays for injuries you cause to others, never your own injuries regardless of fault), leaving you entirely dependent on your health insurance which has a $4,000 deductible and 30% co-insurance on the remaining $14,000 (another $4,200 you owe), meaning your total out-of-pocket medical cost is $8,200 from an accident that was your own mistake made worse by the long, exhausting work schedules common in Wyoming's energy industry. Most drivers don't realize that when you cause your own accident, you have zero access to liability coverage for your medical bills—you're entirely reliant on your health insurance and any Medical Payments coverage you've purchased on your own policy, meaning drivers without MedPay face the full burden of their health insurance deductibles and co-insurance with no possibility of recovering costs from another driver's insurance. With $10,000 in Medical Payments coverage on your own policy, your MedPay pays $10,000 toward your medical bills immediately regardless of the fact that you caused the accident—covering your entire $4,000 health insurance deductible plus $6,000 toward your co-insurance obligations, reducing your out-of-pocket cost from $8,200 to just $2,200 and providing immediate payment while you're recovering and potentially unable to work your physically demanding job. We emphasize Medical Payments coverage particularly for Wyoming oil field workers, Colorado construction workers, and other Mountain West professionals whose physically demanding jobs and long work hours increase fatigue-related accident risk and whose single-vehicle accidents (the most common type of at-fault accidents) leave them with zero liability coverage for their own injuries—making MedPay the only insurance besides health coverage that protects them when they make a mistake that injures themselves.
When Your Family Member Gets Hit
Your teenage daughter is walking home from school in Fort Collins, crosses at a marked crosswalk, and is struck by a driver who didn't see her while turning—she suffers a broken leg requiring surgery, multiple days hospitalized, months of physical therapy for full recovery, and potential long-term orthopedic follow-up as she continues growing. The medical bills reach $35,000 between emergency transport, surgery and hospital stay, orthopedic specialists, physical therapy, and follow-up care—and while the at-fault driver's liability insurance will ultimately cover these costs, that process takes months of claim investigation, liability acceptance, medical record review, and negotiation over reasonable and necessary expenses, during which time medical providers are billing you directly and expecting payment regardless of pending liability claims. Your family's health insurance begins paying after you satisfy your $2,500 family deductible plus 20% co-insurance on remaining amounts, but health insurance companies routinely place liens on liability settlements claiming the right to be reimbursed for any amounts they paid once the at-fault driver's insurance settles, meaning you might have to pay your deductible and co-insurance immediately only to have that money effectively given to your health insurance company when the liability claim settles rather than reimbursed to you—a common scenario that leaves families paying thousands out of pocket that they never fully recover. What most families don't realize is that their household auto policy's Medical Payments coverage extends to family members injured as pedestrians struck by vehicles, meaning your MedPay can pay your daughter's medical bills immediately even though she wasn't in a car at all when injured—if you have $5,000 in MedPay coverage, that $5,000 pays her health insurance deductible and a portion of co-insurance obligations immediately without any requirement to wait for the at-fault driver's liability insurance to complete their investigation and accept the claim. Additionally, MedPay payments are typically not subject to health insurance subrogation or reimbursement claims, meaning the money is yours to keep even after the liability claim eventually settles, unlike health insurance payments which are often recovered through liens—effectively giving you $5,000 in immediate, keep-it-regardless financial support while the lengthy liability claim process unfolds. We help families understand that Medical Payments coverage isn't just for vehicle occupants but extends to family members as pedestrians or bicyclists struck by vehicles, making MedPay particularly valuable for families with teenagers who walk or bike to school, college students who live in pedestrian-heavy areas, or anyone who regularly exercises by jogging or cycling near roads—protecting your family members across the full range of daily activities where vehicle-related injuries could occur, not just when they're riding in your car.
When Medical Bills Come While Fault Is Disputed
You're involved in an intersection accident in Casper where both drivers claim they had the green light—you're certain the other driver ran a red light and hit you, they're equally certain you're at fault—and you suffer injuries requiring emergency room treatment, multiple imaging studies, referral to specialists, and ongoing physical therapy for soft tissue injuries that take months to fully resolve. Your medical bills reach $8,500, you submit the claim to the other driver's insurance company expecting them to pay since you believe they're clearly at fault, but the liability insurer denies the claim stating their investigation shows you caused the accident and their driver is not liable—now you're stuck in a disputed liability situation where your only options are to pursue arbitration or lawsuit to establish fault (a process taking 6-18 months), pay the bills yourself while fighting the liability dispute, or let the bills go to collections damaging your credit while you battle over who caused the accident. This disputed liability scenario is far more common than most people realize—any accident without independent witnesses often devolves into he-said-she-said disputes where liability insurers protect their drivers by denying claims and forcing you to prove fault through lengthy legal processes, and during this entire dispute period your medical providers don't care who caused the accident—they want their bills paid now and will send you to collections if you don't pay regardless of pending liability disputes. Without Medical Payments coverage, you face an impossible choice: pay $8,500 out of pocket (potentially money you'll never recover if arbitration or lawsuit ultimately finds you partially at fault), use your health insurance and pay your $3,000 deductible plus co-insurance obligations while health insurance fights the at-fault driver's insurer through subrogation, or let bills go to collections destroying your credit score while liability remains disputed for months or years. With $10,000 in Medical Payments coverage, this entire nightmare is eliminated—your own insurance company pays your $8,500 in medical bills within 30 days regardless of the liability dispute, you receive immediate medical care without financial stress or collection threats, your credit remains unaffected, and you can fight the liability dispute (if you choose to) without the pressure of unpaid medical bills forcing you to accept inadequate settlement offers just to make the financial stress go away. We position Medical Payments coverage as protection against the reality that fault determination is never certain, even when you're confident you're blameless—disputed liability scenarios are common in intersection accidents, parking lot collisions, and any accident without clear video or witness evidence, and during these disputes MedPay ensures you're not held financially hostage by medical providers while insurance companies spend months investigating and arguing about who caused the collision, giving you financial security and medical care access immediately regardless of how long liability disputes take to resolve.
MEDICAL PAYMENTS INSIGHTS THAT MATTER
Practical knowledge to guide your Medical Payments coverage decisions
How MedPay Coordinates With Your Health Insurance
Understanding how Medical Payments coverage works alongside your health insurance is critical for maximizing benefits and avoiding confusion—including which insurance pays first, how to prevent your health insurer from claiming MedPay benefits, when MedPay covers expenses health insurance doesn't, and why MedPay payments typically aren't subject to health insurance subrogation liens that can force you to reimburse your health insurer when liability claims settle.
Choosing MedPay Limits Based on Your Health Insurance Deductible
The optimal Medical Payments coverage limit for your family depends heavily on your health insurance deductible and out-of-pocket maximum—including why we typically recommend MedPay limits that match or exceed your health insurance deductible, how to calculate your maximum accident-related out-of-pocket exposure including deductibles and co-insurance, and why customers with high-deductible health plans ($3,000+) particularly benefit from $5,000 or $10,000 MedPay limits that eliminate deductible exposure entirely.
COVERAGE FOR EVERY LIFE STAGE
Young Professional
Just starting your career with employer health insurance that has relatively low deductibles? Your priority is basic Medical Payments coverage ($2,500-$5,000) that covers your deductible if an accident happens, provides immediate payment without waiting for fault determination, and costs just a few dollars monthly—affordable protection that eliminates the risk of accident-related medical bills derailing your financial stability while you're building emergency funds and establishing yourself. We structure entry-level MedPay that matches your current health insurance deductible without paying for higher limits you don't yet need, with room to increase coverage as your deductible rises or your family situation changes.
Growing Family
Raising kids who walk to school, ride bikes, and are constantly in and out of vehicles? Your family's accident exposure has expanded dramatically beyond just vehicle occupants to include pedestrian and bicycle scenarios where your children could be struck by vehicles, plus you're likely dealing with high-deductible health plans as employers shift costs to employees—requiring higher Medical Payments limits ($5,000-$10,000) that cover your increased family deductible and protect multiple family members simultaneously. We expand MedPay coverage to match your family health insurance deductible and out-of-pocket maximum, ensuring your children are protected whether they're in your vehicle, walking near roads, or riding bikes in your neighborhood—and explaining how MedPay extends to cover family members across all these scenarios, not just vehicle occupants.
Established Household
Dealing with high-deductible health plans ($5,000+) paired with health savings accounts? You're facing substantial out-of-pocket medical cost exposure that makes higher Medical Payments limits ($10,000+) extremely valuable—your MedPay can pay your entire health insurance deductible plus co-insurance obligations, effectively eliminating all out-of-pocket costs for accident-related medical care while preserving your HSA funds for other healthcare needs and retirement. We structure maximum MedPay limits that cover your full out-of-pocket maximum, coordinate with your HSA strategy to optimize tax-advantaged savings, and ensure accident-related medical expenses don't drain the healthcare funds you're carefully building for future needs—turning MedPay into a strategic component of comprehensive healthcare financial planning, not just auto insurance.
Medicare Transition
Transitioning to Medicare or managing Medicare alongside supplemental coverage? Medicare covers accident-related injuries but typically after other available coverage like Medical Payments is exhausted, meaning your MedPay pays first and Medicare functions as secondary coverage for amounts exceeding your MedPay limits—plus Medicare has deductibles and co-insurance obligations that MedPay can cover, and Medicare doesn't cover some services like chiropractic care beyond limited amounts that MedPay would pay for accident-related treatment. We help Medicare beneficiaries understand how MedPay coordinates with Medicare and Medicare supplement policies, typically recommending $5,000 limits that cover Medicare deductibles and provide primary coverage that protects you immediately while Medicare processes claims—ensuring accident-related care is seamless and affordable during retirement years when fixed incomes make unexpected medical costs particularly challenging.
FAQs
If an incident occurs, the first step is to report it to us as soon as possible. We'll help you gather all necessary information about the event, like date, time, involved parties, and any witnesses. Then, the insurance company will investigate the claim, and if covered, we'll work to resolve it, either through direct payment or legal defense. Our JWR team is here to guide you through every step.
General liability insurance primarily protects your business from claims of third-party bodily injury, property damage, and advertising injury. For example, if a customer slips and falls in your Colorado store, or if you accidentally damage a client's property, this policy helps cover medical expenses, repair costs, and legal defense fees.
The cost of general liability insurance varies widely depending on your business type, industry risk, location (like operating near the oil fields in Wyoming), and your chosen coverage limits. A small consulting firm will pay less than a construction company. The best way to get an accurate price is to chat with us for a personalized quote tailored to your specific business needs.
Even if you operate a home-based business or a small startup in Wyoming or Colorado, general liability insurance is crucial. Unexpected accidents can lead to costly lawsuits that could devastate your business financially. It provides peace of mind and often is required by clients, landlords, or for obtaining business licenses.
General liability insurance has specific exclusions. It typically does not cover professional errors or omissions (you'd need professional liability), injuries to your employees (that's workers' compensation), or damages due to vehicle accidents (commercial auto insurance). Intentional acts, punitive damages, and property damage to your own business's property are also generally excluded.
General liability is foundational, covering broad third-party risks like bodily injury and property damage. A Business Owner's Policy (BOP) combines general liability with commercial property insurance, making it a cost-effective package for many small businesses. Professional Liability (also called Errors & Omissions) is separate and covers claims arising from mistakes, negligence, or failure to perform professional services. We can help you determine the best fit for your business.