What Is Medical Payments Coverage (MedPay)?

MedPay is an optional add-on to your policy. It pays your medical bills after a car accident no matter who caused it. You don't have to wait for a claim to settle or for your health insurance to process a claim. The bills get paid right away up to your coverage limit.

Here is what that looks like in a real situation. You get rear-ended at a stoplight. The ambulance costs $1,800. Your health plan has a $2,500 deductible, so you owe the full ER bill of $3,400 out of pocket. Your $5,000 MedPay coverage pays the ambulance and hospital bill directly. You owe nothing while the liability claim sorts itself out.

• Your medical bills after an accident regardless of fault
• Medical bills for every passenger in your car
• Medical costs if you're hit as a pedestrian or cyclist
• Ambulance and emergency room fees
• Follow-up care including physical therapy, specialist visits and X-rays up to your coverage limit

• Lost wages — personal injury protection covers those where available
• Injuries to the other driver — that's what bodily injury liability covers
• Medical bills above your coverage limit
• Car repairs or rental cars
• Non-medical expenses of any kind

• Personal injury protection also pays your medical bills after an accident no matter who caused it, but it goes further. PIP covers lost wages, child care costs and rehab. MedPay only covers medical bills. PIP is required in no-fault states.
• Health insurance does not replace MedPay. MedPay pays faster, keeps minor accidents off your health record entirely, and costs a fraction of most health deductibles. Unlike health insurance, MedPay settles accident-related bills without requiring you to file a health insurance claim at all — for minor accidents, that keeps the incident off your health record. Health insurance may also pursue the at-fault driver's insurer to recover what it paid, a process called subrogation, which can delay settlement and reduce your net recovery. MedPay avoids that complication entirely.
• Bodily injury liability pays for injuries you cause to other people. MedPay pays for your own injuries and your passengers.

MedPay is one of the least expensive coverages you can add to your policy. In our analysis, adding $5,000 in MedPay typically costs $5 to $8 more per month, or $60 to $96 per year. Most drivers choose limits between $1,000 and $10,000. The higher your limit the more it costs, but even $10,000 in coverage adds very little to a typical policy.

If you live in one of the 12 no-fault states and carry personal injury protection (PIP), MedPay is almost certainly redundant; PIP already covers everything MedPay does. The decision whether to add it applies to drivers in at-fault states.

For most drivers with a health deductible above $1,000, MedPay is worth adding. At $5 to $8 per month, the cost of being wrong about skipping it is far higher than the cost of carrying it.

Add MedPay If:

• Your health insurance deductible is $2,000 or more. 
  ER visits and ambulance costs after a car accident routinely run $3,000 or more. A $5,000 MedPay limit covers most of that for $5 to $10 more per month, and settles the bill without involving your health insurer at all.

• You have no health insurance. 
  Even $5,000 in MedPay covers most ER visits and follow-up care after a minor accident. Without it those bills land entirely on you.

• You regularly drive with passengers. 
  MedPay covers every person in your car. If you carpool, drive family members or frequently have passengers, MedPay means their medical bills are covered on day one without a lengthy claims process.

   

Skip MedPay If:

• Your health plan has a deductible of $500 or less.
  At that level, a $1,000 MedPay limit provides coverage at roughly $2 to $3 per month, and skipping it entirely also makes sense. If your out-of-pocket exposure after an accident is $500 or less, MedPay adds convenience but limited financial protection.
• You live in a no-fault state and already carry PIP. PIP covers everything MedPay does and more. Carrying both is redundant.

Match your MedPay limit to your health plan deductible as a starting point. So if your deductible is $3,000, a $5,000 limit covers that and leaves room for follow-up care.

The cost difference between limits is small enough that going higher is almost always the right call. The difference between $1,000 and $10,000 in MedPay coverage is typically $5 to $10 per month. For most drivers, the right answer is the highest limit available for under $10 more per month, which is usually $10,000.

On the other hand, if your deductible is $500 or less, a $1,000 limit covers your gap at roughly $2 to $3 per month. Going without MedPay is also reasonable at this deductible level.

MedPay is worth adding for most drivers with a health deductible above $1,000. At $5 to $8 more per month, it covers your ER bills and your passengers' bills immediately, without waiting for fault to be determined and without filing a health insurance claim. 

If your health plan already covers most accident costs with minimal out-of-pocket exposure, it adds convenience more than protection. Even so, pricing it out before waiving it takes two minutes and is always worth doing.

MoneyGeek's rate data is sourced from Quadrant Information Services and reflects 2.4 million quotes across major U.S. insurers. Rates shown are for a 40-year-old male driver with a clean record and good credit. For a full explanation of how MoneyGeek collects, analyzes and presents insurance data, see our auto insurance methodology.