Get treated anyway. You have more options than you think, including doctors who will treat you now and get paid out of your settlement later.
Skipping care after an accident is the most expensive mistake you can make. Your health takes the first hit. Your case takes the second, because the insurance company will point to every week you didn’t see a doctor and say you must not have been hurt that badly.
They are banking on you not being able to afford care. Don’t let them win that way.
Because California doesn’t make them. Not until the end.
California is a fault state. The at-fault driver’s insurer pays your medical costs as part of one settlement or verdict when your claim wraps up. They don’t pay as you go, and they have no reason to hurry. Every month you struggle to pay for care is a month they hope you’ll get desperate and take a lowball offer.
So the real question isn’t whether their insurance pays. It’s how you get treated in the meantime.
Even with a deductible, it’s usually the cheapest way to get care. Your insurer may want to be paid back from your settlement, and that’s normal. But Civil Code section 3040 limits how much many health plans can take back, and a lawyer can often negotiate it down further.
Pull up your policy’s declarations page and look for Medical Payments coverage. Plenty of people pay for it every month and have no idea.
MedPay covers your medical bills no matter who caused the crash. The limits are often a few thousand dollars. That can be enough for the ER visit, your first round of imaging, or several weeks of physical therapy.
This is the option most people have never heard of. It’s also the one that gets a lot of our clients through.
With a medical lien, a doctor, surgeon, chiropractor, or physical therapist treats you now and agrees to be paid out of your settlement. No upfront cost. No insurance needed.
California courts back this up. In Pebley v. Santa Clara Organics (2018), a state appeals court ruled that an injured person treating on a lien, even one who has health insurance, can present the full reasonable value of that care as damages.
Before you sign one, know this:
Hurt in an Uber or Lyft? Pay attention to SB 623, which California passed in June 2026. For rideshare accident claims arising on or after January 1, 2027, it limits how much lien-based medical bills can be recovered and requires disclosure of certain lien sales and financial arrangements. Talk to our rideshare accident lawyers before you sign any lien.
If you went to the ER, you were already protected. Under federal law, EMTALA, hospital emergency rooms have to screen and stabilize you whether you can pay or not.
The bill afterward is a different story, but California helps there too. Hospitals must offer free or discounted care to uninsured patients earning up to 400% of the federal poverty level, and some insured patients with high medical costs qualify as well. The California Attorney General is clear that your immigration status doesn’t affect eligibility.
Ask the billing office for a financial assistance application. If you get wrongly turned down, file a complaint with the state’s Hospital Bill Complaint Program.
Depending on your income, you may qualify for Medi-Cal even after the accident. Ask about retroactive coverage, which can reach back up to three months before you applied.
If you lost job-based insurance because you can’t work, that can open a special enrollment window through Covered California.
Medi-Cal will want repayment from your settlement too. That amount can often be reduced.
If you were driving for work or got hurt at a job site, your employer’s workers’ comp insurance should cover all reasonable medical treatment, with no copays or deductibles. Our workers’ compensation lawyers can help if they’re dragging their feet.
The settlement goes into your attorney’s trust account first. From there, every lien and balance gets verified, negotiated down wherever possible, and paid. You get the rest, with a written breakdown showing where every dollar went.
Hospitals can’t take it all, either. Under California’s Hospital Lien Act, the combined liens that hospitals, ER doctors, and ambulance companies can claim are generally capped at 50% of your recovery.
Not like they used to. California’s SB 1061, which took effect in 2025, bars medical debt from showing up on consumer credit reports. The bills don’t disappear, but a medical balance from your accident shouldn’t wreck your credit score while your case is pending.
If a provider keeps calling, tell them you have an open injury claim and give them your lawyer’s contact information. Many will hold billing once they know.
Yes. Adjusters are trained to hunt for it.
Stop seeing your doctor for a few weeks and they’ll say you healed. Wait a month to get seen at all and they’ll say something else caused your pain. It isn’t fair when the real reason was money, but you have to be ready for it.
“I couldn’t afford it” is a real reason, and a jury can understand it. But only if the records back it up.
“I’m hurt, but I can’t afford the doctor.” We hear some version of that on almost every first call.
Part of what we do at DP Injury Attorneys is solve that problem. We can recommend doctors who provide quality care at reasonable prices, including providers who treat on a lien. Then we deal with the insurance companies and billing departments so you can focus on getting better.
Our help doesn’t cost you anything upfront, either. Consultations are free, and you pay nothing unless we win. Hablamos español.
Hurt in a crash? Start with our San Diego car accident lawyers or meet our team.
Take care of your health. We’ve got the rest. Contact us today.
Arthur Paul D’Egidio is the Managing Partner of DP Injury Attorneys, a San Diego personal injury law firm. With more than 12 years of experience in California injury law, he has dedicated his practice to representing clients in a wide range of personal injury matters, including car accidents, workers’ compensation, slip and falls, catastrophic injury, and wrongful death cases.
Arthur received his Juris Doctor from the Thomas Jefferson School of Law and is a member of the State Bar of California as well as the San Diego County Bar Association. He has received numerous accolades for his work, including being named a Super Lawyer for seven straight years by Thomson Reuters and a “Top 40 Under 40” by the National Trial Lawyers.
