Update on my car wreck

[Irving]

As i said it would be my preference to see a CMT. As i said one with about a thousand references. I happen to know a certified massage therapist who has helped a lot of auto accident victims.
Often her clients have had conventional medical treatment and still suffer pain. I can assure you she is not "scum" but somone who has a genuine gift for healing who has chosen this as her lifes profession. She has a BA in a related field and could have made much more $ in that. My understanding, as the law changed eight years or so ago CMTs can not directly bill insurance companys so im not sure how the CMT's can scam the insurance companys. The CMTs have to wait until settlement to get paid from the client not the insurance company the exception being doctor ordered treatment. The CMT I know is of the highest moral character. If the client she is treating shows no signs of improvment within a year she will not see that client anymore. The characterization you have written above is competely untrue in all aspects in reference to the CMT I know.

First, you are correct that the law changed (from PIP to Medpay) and they do not bill directly. The patient pays, then submits the receipt to insurance and is reimbursed.

Second, I love massages, and feel the same way about those who enjoy their work as you do. However, being a claims adjuster, I get to see how those scam artists operate in the same field as the good guys; just like in any industry.

I don't want to steer Ridge away from getting whatever treatment will work the best for him, be it chiro, massage, or even acupuncture, but when you direct a person toward someone who advertises that they specialize in car wreck treatment, more often than not, you are pointing them right to a scam artist. I have no doubt that your friend is of the utmost moral character, but watch the way in which you recommend people to her because it sounded like you were encouraging fraud in your first post.

Quote:

Its advesarial because the insurance companies vested interest is to extract themselves from the legal obligation at the lowest cost. The injured party needs treatment. The policy writer is instituting policies designed to have the maximum amount of people give up their legal rights as defined by the policuy at the lowest cost to the policy writer. The job of the lawyer is to make sure that the injured party recieves the full benefit of the policy they have paid for. The policy holder is no more qualified to deal with the insurance company than he would be to deal with the legal system himself in any other matter.

This is a well crafted response, and no one can deny that insurance companies make an effort to mitigate costs, however, in this case, Ridge is not dealing with his own insurance company, so he has paid for nothing. I realize that only bolsters your argument.

Insurance companies are easy to hate because people do not care to understand what their policy actually covers, people tend to think they are owed all kinds of things they don't deserve, and on the occasions when an insurance company does screw up, the court cases are highly publicized (as they should be). Insurance companies DO try to mitigate costs, just like every other company in the world. Sometimes you will see an overzealous claims manager who thinks he/she is going to be Hero of the Day by shorting someone out of some money. Similar to how an overzealous District Attorney sours people on all lawyers and the entire justice system.

Take this news story I recently posted as an example of why insurance companies are concerned with mitigating costs.
http://www.myfoxphilly.com/story/197...-trolley-crash

Here is an instance where not everyone on this trolley even realized that they were in an accident, yet 9 people lawyered up and claimed they were seriously injured. How many times do you think you could receive claims like this before you'd start to look at every injury with some amount of skepticism?

Ridge: If you don't feel comfortable dealing with the insurance company, hire an attorney, but do it for the right reasons. Also, don't threaten with an attorney, just get one. Society is so litigious that everyone thinks that they can sue for anything and everything. Even in the jobs I've had that have not been in the insurance industry, I've never taken the threat of an attorney seriously. Ridge, you should fully expect your injury to be looked at very skeptically since it hasn't bothered you enough to treat for it. However, a few months from the accident is not all that big of a deal, especially for a minor injury, and if you are hurt, then you are owed compensation. PM me with any questions you might have and I will help you as best as I can.