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Legally Reviewed by:

Jonathan Rosenfeld
J.D

August 17, 2020

Over $400 Million worth of case results

Awarded The Best Lawyer in 2024 by U.S. News

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future medical expensesWere you involved in a car accident or suffered injuries through someone’s negligence due to a bad medication, defective product, or medical malpractice? Are you ready to file a personal injury claim to receive compensation for your damages to eliminate the enormous financial strain of medical and hospital costs?

Before filing a claim with the defendant’s insurance company, you must determine future medical expenses and other costs to ensure you receive maximum compensation in a personal injury settlement.

Our personal injury attorneys at Rosenfeld Injury Lawyers, LLC can prove future medical costs and other expenses to cover your current and future treatment. We represent personal injury victims in various practice areas and seek compensation through civil tort law.

Contact our accident injury attorneys at (888) 424-5757 (toll-free phone number) or use the contact form today for immediate legal advice and schedule a free consultation. All confidential or sensitive information you share with our legal team remains private through an attorney-client relationship.

Accident Victims Must Prove the Need for Future Medical Treatment

You may not be able to prove the need for future medical care. However, if someone’s negligence caused your injuries, you could file a personal injury lawsuit against them. Typically, past medical expenses are easily obtained, and future medical costs may be covered by health insurance.

You must provide proof of your losses to file a lawsuit against an individual or corporation. To accurately determine future medical expenses, include documentation like medical bills, receipts, and statements. You can use these documents to show the court how much you spent on medical treatment.

In some cases, you may be able to recover future medical expenses directly from the defendant. For example, if you had a car accident caused by another driver’s negligence, you may be entitled to collect medical expenses related to your injuries.

In addition, if you suffer from a chronic illness related to exposure to toxins at work, you may be eligible for coverage for future medical expenses under your health plan that provides funds for future treatment needs.

The plaintiff’s attorney will likely ask for information about your medical history. He or she will want to see copies of your medical costs and insurance policy. These items may help the attorney build a case for future medical expenses.

Determining Future Medical Expenses in Personal Injury Cases

If you are injured due to someone else’s negligence, it is important to know what your future medical expenses might cost, including emergency care and long-term treatment. You may miss out on compensation if you do not understand how much you might spend on medical expenses and end up paying more than necessary for your injury.

However, calculating future medical expenses follows a specific process to ensure you have adequate funds.

Through our personal injury law firm, your experienced attorney will use a life care planning expert to identify all medical costs, calculate how much you could spend, and accurately determine the value of future medical needs, including durable medical equipment and the cost of future treating physicians.

Identify Your Costs

First, identify exactly what you spent on medical bills in the past. Include everything, such as doctor visits, prescriptions, physical therapy, hospital stays, ambulance rides, and anything related to your injuries. Next, add up the total amount of money you paid.

Find Out How Much You Could Spend

Next, find out how much you could spend on medical bills over the next few years. To figure this out, multiply your current medical bill amounts by three, five, seven, ten, fifteen, twenty, thirty, forty, fifty, Or even more, based on the years you likely have left to live.

For example, if you had $10,000 worth of medical bills three months ago, you could spend anywhere from $30,000-$40,000 on medical costs over the course of the next year. This amount can be astronomical if you suffer spinal cord injuries, traumatic brain injuries, amputation, and other health conditions requiring ongoing medical care.

Estimate What You Might Spend for Future Medical Care

Future medical expenses are compensation awarded when a worker suffers a work injury and needs additional care. These benefits are designed to help victims cover the cost of treatment that wasn’t covered during the initial period of disability.

If you suffer a compensable work injury that causes permanent impairment, future medical expenses can be awarded regardless of whether you reached maximum medical improvement (MMI). In a personal injury case, Experienced health care providers identify their patient’s maximum medical improvement, where there is no reasonable likelihood that the accident victim will heal any further after receiving all the treatment available.

To pursue more money, a victim must meet certain criteria to qualify for future medical care through the defendant’s insurance company. For example, they must be under 65, have no preexisting conditions, and receive treatment for their injuries. In addition, the employer must provide reasonable and necessary ongoing care.

Examples of Future Medical Expenditures

Future medical expenses are often included in personal injury claims. These costs can range from $1-$5,000 per month, depending on the injuries sustained. They include future dental care, prescription drugs, diagnostic testing, hospitalization, surgery, rehabilitation, lost wages, and pain and suffering.

The total cost of future medical needs depends upon several factors, including the severity of the injury, whether it requires ongoing treatment, how long you must wait to receive treatment, what types of treatments you require, and the extent of your disability.

For example, if you suffer a broken leg, you might need one week off work while recovering, whereas someone who suffers a concussion could take months to recover.

Proving Future Medical Costs

Personal injury cases often involve significant money. It might be difficult to convince a jury to award such damages if you don’t already have proof of future medical expenses. However, there are several ways to prove long-term medical expenses, including expert testimony, patient records, and medical bills.

Calculating Future Expense Needs

You could be eligible for additional compensation if you are injured because of another party’s negligence. Sometimes, this type of recovery is referred to as “additional expense.” If you have been injured due to someone else’s negligence, it is important to understand what additional expense means.

This approach aims to help personal injury victims determine whether you are entitled to lifetime payments to cover future expenses. To qualify for lifetime payments, you must calculate future medical expenses and show that you incurred additional medical costs due to your injury.

These costs include prescription drugs, doctor visits, physical therapy, transportation, equipment, special diets, etc.

In many situations, the amount of money you spent on healthcare before your accident cannot be determined. However, knowing how much money you spent on healthcare before your injury, you can use that information to calculate future medical costs before your experienced personal injury attorney files your car accident case or work-related injury lawsuit.

Total Lifestyle Approach

A total lifestyle approach considers all the costs associated with living independently after a serious injury. This includes medical bills, lost wages, pain and suffering, rehabilitation, loss of enjoyment of life, and emotional distress.

An attorney should consider living expenses after a serious personal injury before determining compensation. Sometimes, delaying payment of certain damages may make sense until the injured person returns to work.

For example, if you cannot work because of a disability, you might want to wait to receive money for future medical care until you return. However, there are many factors to consider when deciding how much compensation to award.

What Future Treatment to Consider

Your doctor will determine the necessary treatments based on your sustained severe injuries. Many different treatment options are available, depending on the severity of your injuries. Some treatments are used for specific injuries, while others are used for various conditions.

The best way to know which treatments are appropriate for you is to speak with your doctor about your medical history and current health status. They can help you decide whether further testing is required and recommend the most effective treatments for your unique situation.

Calculating Future Medical Expenses: Two Approaches to Maximize Compensation

In many car accident cases, it is important to determine how much money you will spend on future medical care. This calculation requires knowing whether you will use the Additional Expense Method or the Total Lifestyle Method.

If you choose the latter option, you must thoroughly investigate your current lifestyle and financial resources. You might even consider hiring a professional expert to help you complete this task.

The Additional Expense Method calculates what you will owe based on the amount of money you have already spent on medical care related to the accident. For example, if you paid $10,000 for medical bills following a car crash, you could use this formula to figure out how much you will pay over the next five years.

Contributing Factors To Determine Future Medical Bills

Medical bills are one of the biggest concerns for people involved in motor vehicle accidents. The amount of money spent on medical care after a collision is often unpredictable because insurance companies consider several factors when calculating how much someone will pay.

To accurately calculate future medical expenses, include the severity of the injury, whether it was caused by negligence, and the individual’s age, health, and lifestyle.

Insurance companies will consider pre-existing medical conditions when setting your payment, and some will refuse to cover certain treatments. In addition, many insurance policies exclude coverage for certain types of care, such as cosmetic surgery.

An experienced personal injury lawyer can help you determine the compensation you’re entitled to and ensure that your injury claim is handled properly. Contact us today if you have been denied fair compensation for your injuries.

Future Economic Damages

The Supreme Court held that future medical expenses are part of the damage award in personal injury cases. In doing so, it rejected the argument that expert testimony is needed to prove future medical expenses because courts typically uphold such awards.

Instead, the court relied on a common-sense notion that people do not spend money on things they cannot afford.

In addition, the court ruled that courts can consider future medical expenses when determining the number of damages awarded to compensate for non-economic damages. This decision follows several prior rulings that allowed juries to consider evidence of future medical expenses when awarding compensation for pain and suffering.

The Allowable Elements of an Injury Claim for Future Medical Bills

Once you have established your entitlement to future medical costs as an injured party, you may be able to recover the following as part of your claim:

  • Any home medical care or nursing
  • The cost of future surgeries as a result of the injuries up to the insurance company policy limits
  • Co-pays for healthcare provider visits and prescription medications to treat the injury
  • Reasonable and necessary health care expenses that you will incur in treating injuries.
  • Physical therapy costs and other procedures that require ongoing medical care
  • Other future medical care expenses
  • Other special damages, such as the cost for a family member to provide you with care

As you can see, this is one of the more complicated areas of a personal injury trial. You must come to the court with the necessary details instead of filling them in later.

Hire a Personal Injury Lawyer to Help Determine Future Medical Expenses

Your lawyer will work with medical experts to establish your serious injuries and what your needs are in the future. You should expect that the defendant and their attorneys will have a very different view than you of your needs for medical care and what it will cost. You need an attorney for your Personal injury case after your accident to recover compensation.

Contact our attorneys at (888) 424-5757 or use the contact form to help calculate future medical expenses before filing a personal injury claim for past and ongoing medical care. We can work directly with insurance adjusters, physical therapists, doctors, and other experts to ensure you receive the best medical treatments now and in the future. We provide a free consultation to discuss the merits of your car accident case.

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