Hi everyone. I was walking in front of my house new years morning and a lady ran into me. Shattering my left ankle and spraining my right one. I had to have surgery to put screws into my ankle. Spent 4 days in the hospital. Me only being 20 and no longer able to work (couldnt afford medical insurance or anything either) this left me in a really tight spot, and I had to leave behind my entire life that I made on my own, sold my car and evertying worth money to get by then thankfully my father was there to help and came and picked me up from reno Nevada and I now live with him in California. Now the insurance company is finally settleing with me for the full amount of the claim ($20,000). And they wrote the check out to me and the hospital. Here is my dilema. My hospital bill was almost $19,000 alone, plus I have other medical bills, and I now found out I need bone grafting done which means another (much more expensive) surgery needs to be done. I called the hospital and asked them what we do about this, they said sign the check over to them and they will give me the remaining $1,000. Now I don't want to sound like I'm a greedy person, or sound like I'm trying to screw the hospital or anything but I would really like to get my life somewhat back in order, my dad doesn't make enough money for us both to get by for much longer. So I need to get back to reno and get my job back so I will be able to pay for my future surgery. So I need some money to get back in reno, purchase a cheap car, and a deposite on another apartment.
So is there any way for me to get more than $1000? Someone told me something about if your payout wasn't enough, you would only have to pay 1/3 to medical bills?
Once again I'm not trying to screw anyone here, even if I got the whole $20,000 (which I know is not possible) I would still feel like I myself got screwed out of the whole deal. I am going to have problems for the rest of my life now.

Oh and sueing the driver is pretty much out of the question. She herself is very young and doesn't have anything, I spoke to a lawyer and he told me it would not even be worth it.
Any advice is greatly appreciated.

The legal and moral thing to do is to sue the driver, and get a judgement that you can renew in the hopes that she gets some future assets. The problem is that this is not going to get you money NOW. The other difficulty that you will have is that the hospital knows that you have enough money to cover the bill, and quite rightly wants to be paid. If you don't pay them the amount that they want, they are probably going to take you to court for it. But you might be able to talk to someone there and see if you can work something out. Just keep in mind that if they are a big hospital, your's is not the only case where someone is trying to get out of paying the full amount.

If you have insurance, you might want to talk to them and see if there is any way of getting the other insurance company to cover the cost of the bone graft. It is a result of the same accidet, and thus may be covered.

Hello drake:

DON'T take the check. DON'T talk to the insurance company again. DO hire a lawyer. DO it TODAY.

Greed has nothing to do with it. You're entitled under the laws of our nation, to be made WHOLE. They haven't come close - NOT CLOSE!

If you want more money do what I said. If you don't, cash the check.

excon

When you say "full amount of the claim" whose full amount, is that all the insurance max they have on her policy.

You should refuse any settlement that does not cover all current and future medical bills, all lose of work, and a percentage for pain and suffering

It is nomal to have 50,000 to 100,000 to even 300,000 for liability on a accident with car insurance, who said this was the max on the claim ?
It sounds like they are just rying to low ball you.

If that is the max the insurance can pay ( their limit) if you accept it, it should not be for final payment, but patiral payment with right to sue.

The others have given you very good advice. However, I wonder if they would like to add to their comments. They are quite right about the legal aspects of this, but if she had low insurance maximums (quite possible if she doesn't have any assets to be concerned about, since it makes the rates lower), what can drake do to get money this year and not in 10 years, if he takes the driver to court? As has often been pointed out, it's one thing to get the judgement, it's quite another to actually get the money.

Yea unfortunetly the limit on the policy is $20,000 for one person injured, and I asked for a decleration page to make sure they weren't lying to me. I think my states minimum aloud coverage is $15,000. I guess it could have been worse, I could have gotten hit by a poor illegal or something with no insurance.
And they tried to get me to sign a waver saying I wouldn't sue her and I refused in case she ever gets anything (very doubtfull, I found out a friend of mine knows her and she is a complete screw up). But since I can't possibly get anything else from the insurance company I guess it's the only hope I have. So I will try to negotiate with the hospital to see if maybe they will leave me a few thousand dollars just so I can get home and back on my feet. Thanks for the replys.