On this page
Who pays, and when
| Source | When it pays | What to know | Rule |
|---|---|---|---|
| Your MedPay | As bills come in | Only if you bought it. Pays without regard to fault. | NRS 687B.145; Division of Insurance |
| Your health insurance | As bills come in | Pays under the plan's terms. May ask to be paid back from a later recovery. | Your plan documents |
| The at-fault driver's insurer | Usually once, at settlement or judgment | Up to the policy limit (Nevada's minimum limit is $25,000 per person). | NRS 485.185 |
| A hospital lien | Out of the settlement or judgment | Cannot reach the money spent on attorney fees and costs. | NRS 108.590; NRS 108.600 |
The rest of this page takes each row in turn.
Medical payments coverage (MedPay)
Nevada insurers must offer MedPay of at least $1,000 for reasonable and necessary medical costs from a crash. The offer comes on a form approved by the Commissioner of Insurance, and each renewal must include it (NRS 687B.145). It pays only if you bought it. Look for "medical payments" on your policy's declarations page.
The Nevada Division of Insurance says MedPay pays for injuries to you and your passengers without regard to fault. It says it also pays for injuries from being struck by a motor vehicle as a pedestrian (Division of Insurance).
MedPay is a claim on your own policy. The insurer asks for the bills and records it needs. For a claim on your own policy, Nevada's rules give the insurer 30 working days after proof of loss to accept or deny. Once it accepts, it has 30 days to pay (NAC 686A.675).
If your insurer stops answering, the Nevada Division of Insurance takes complaints. Its Las Vegas office is at 3300 W. Sahara Ave., Suite 275 (Division of Insurance).
Your health insurance
Health insurance pays under its own terms, with its usual copays and deductibles. Show each provider your health insurance card, as you would for any other visit. A plan may ask to be paid back from a later recovery. That is called subrogation or reimbursement, and the rules are in your plan documents.
The "made-whole" rule can limit that payback until the injured person is fully compensated. A 2005 Nevada Supreme Court decision calls it a default rule read into insurance contracts unless the policy explicitly excludes it (opinion text on FindLaw). Read your plan's wording, or ask a lawyer to.
The at-fault driver's insurance
The other driver's bodily injury liability coverage pays for injuries that driver is legally responsible for, up to the policy limits. Nevada's minimum limits are $25,000 for one person and $50,000 for two or more in one crash (NRS 485.185).
Fault is split under NRS 41.141. A person partly at fault can still recover if their share was not greater than the other side's. At trial, a jury finds the total damages and each party's percentage of fault, and the recovery is worked out from those findings.
That insurer usually pays once, when the injury claim settles or a court decides it, not bill by bill. If the other driver had no insurance or too little, see our guide on being hit by an uninsured driver in Nevada. If their adjuster is calling, see our guide on what happens when the other driver's insurance adjuster calls.
How hospital liens work in Nevada
A hospital lien is the hospital's claim on the money from your injury claim. Nevada's rules for it are in NRS chapter 108:
- What it covers. A hospital that treated your injury has a lien on a judgment or settlement. It covers the reasonable value of the care given before that date (NRS 108.590).
- Workers' compensation. The lien is not valid against someone covered by Nevada workers' compensation (NRS 108.590).
- Notice. Before money is paid, the hospital must record a notice of lien with an itemized statement. It goes to the county recorder where the hospital is, and where the injury happened if that is a different county. For a Las Vegas hospital and a Las Vegas crash, that is the Clark County Recorder (NRS 108.610).
- Service. The hospital must also mail a certified copy, by certified or registered mail, to the person said to be responsible. Their insurer gets one too, if known (NRS 108.610).
- Attorney fees. No lien applies to the money spent on necessary attorney fees, costs and expenses of getting the recovery (NRS 108.600).
- After a settlement. No lien is allowed for hospital care given after the claim has settled (NRS 108.600).
- Public programs. The injured person may be eligible for Medicaid, Medicare, the Children's Health Insurance Program or another public program. If so, the hospital cannot collect more than 55% of its billed charges through the lien (NRS 108.655).
The lien also binds whoever pays. An insurer that pays you after receiving the notice, without paying the hospital, stays liable to the hospital for 180 days (NRS 108.650). And the person or insurer facing the claim may examine and copy the hospital's records of that stay (NRS 108.640).
If the crash happened while you were working
Nevada law requires written notice to the employer as soon as practicable, but within 7 days after the accident (NRS 616C.015). A claim goes to the insurer within 90 days if the employee sought treatment or missed work (NRS 616C.020). A firm confirms which deadline applies to a specific case.
A hospital lien under NRS 108.590 is not valid against someone covered by workers' compensation, as the list above notes (NRS 108.590).
What to keep
- every bill, and every explanation of benefits from your health plan;
- receipts for prescriptions, equipment and rides to appointments;
- letters from any hospital about a lien;
- the claim numbers from each insurance company;
- a list of every provider, with visit dates.
Keep them together, whoever ends up paying them. Our guide to neck pain after a car accident in Las Vegas covers the medical side.
How long you have in Nevada
Separately from the bills, Nevada generally allows two years to file a lawsuit for an injury caused by someone else's wrongful act or neglect (NRS 11.190(4)(e)). A firm confirms which deadline applies to a specific case.
Terms you will hear
- MedPay
- Medical payments coverage on your own auto policy, if you bought it.
- Subrogation
- An insurer's right to be paid back from a recovery for what it already paid.
- Made-whole rule
- A default rule that can limit that payback until the injured person is fully compensated.
- Hospital lien
- A hospital's claim on a settlement or judgment for the care it gave (NRS 108.590).
- Notice of lien
- The itemized statement a hospital records with the county recorder and serves by certified mail (NRS 108.610).
- Letter of protection
- A written promise that a medical provider will be paid from a future recovery.
- Explanation of benefits
- The statement a health plan sends after it processes a bill.