Monday, April 6, 2009

Mass Personal Injury Protection Law and Benefit Summary

By Lucille Green

For many people today, a personal injury protection policy has become something they consider necessary when driving in their everyday lives. This should not be considered a selfish act as there are other people to think about if you are gifted wit a family that will need financial support. If you have no family responsibilities then you may decide to arrange personal injury protection (PIP) just for your own benefit. This all sounds great in theory but insurance of any kind is expensive and this can be just another costly addition to the family budget.

When the cover is taken out in hast it is often found to be unsuitable and not worth continuing. Not every state has made this law yet but a few have although the amount of protection does vary considerably. This disparity is best illustrated by the huge difference in cover required by citizens in Alaska compared to those Florida where ten times as much is needed. If you live in a state where personal injury protection has not been made law yet, that does not mean you should wait until it is!

Depending on the policy, cover can pay up to eighty percent of costs involved for the insured and any passengers they were carrying at the time. With this type of plan it doesn't even matter if the person responsible for the accident was the policy holder because it will pay all medical bills, lost wages etc. This is a good reason why it is worth checking existing insurance plans to see if any of these areas are already protected, which should, in theory, lower any additional plan you take out. By checking carefully you may discover that certain costs like medical bills and other expenses are already part of your current cover.

This means that in certain circumstances, no extra protection is required or if it is, only a small amount. How you drive will also help determine whether or not you need personal injury protection. Fortunately most drivers will probably find themselves covered by their own health insurance policy which will also protect family members that happen to be passengers.

Personal injury protection will still be required if you find that other passengers are not covered or the level of cover is so low it is almost a waste of time. Any passenger in your vehicle should feel safe so it is the driver's responsibility to ensure this is the case. For your own peace of mind you should want to make sure that even if your state does not make it mandatory to provide personal injury protection, you should feel obliged too. Your personal circumstances will dictate just how much insurance you need so the better your health is and the less claims you have made, will help to reduce the policy costs overall.

Younger drivers however, do not fair so well if they are inexperienced with little insurance cover in place but they are often in greater need of good health insurance cover to protect themselves and any family they have. Accidents unfortunately happen but before you rush into buying insurance cover, look into the subject as it could save you some money but more importantly will make you feel more secure when you drive with passengers.

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