2 min read
This is a question that many Minnesotans ask after being injured in an accident. In short, Minnesota’s No-Fault Act requires that the first $20,000 of medical bills related to auto accidents be paid by a motor vehicle insurance company. But the long answer is less clear.
What Is Minnesota No-Fault Insurance?
Minnesota's No-Fault insurance law has been around since 1975, and it was designed with two goals in mind: make sure your medical bills get paid after a car accident, and make that process faster and simpler without first requiring you to prove who was at fault.
Before this law existed, getting medical bills paid was costly, time-consuming, and could require a formal lawsuit. Fifty years later, there's still a lot of confusion about how it works.
Every auto insurance policy in Minnesota is required to include two types of coverage: up to $20,000 for medical expenses, and up to $20,000 for economic loss. Economic loss covers things like lost wages and household costs if your injuries prevent you from working.
Who Pays?
There is a priority system that determines which insurance company pays No-Fault benefits if a person is injured in an accident. This system ensures that most Minnesotans will be covered under most circumstances.
If You Own and Insure a Vehicle
If you do not own or insure a vehicle, the law looks to other sources for No-Fault coverage. This doesn't mean you're out of luck. Minnesota's priority system still has you covered in most cases, it just considers a few more factors to determine who is responsible
If You Do Not Own or Insure a Vehicle
This doesn't mean you're without coverage. Minnesota's priority system still has you covered in most cases, it just looks at a few other factors to figure out who's responsible.
If you live with a relative who has coverage
No vehicle of your own? If you share a home with a relative who has auto insurance (a parent, sibling, grandparent, anyone in the household), their policy can cover you.
If you don't live with a covered relative
If neither of those apply, then the insurance on the vehicle you were riding in at the time of the accident steps in to cover the first $20,000 of your bills.
If you were in an uninsured vehicle with no other coverage
If you weren't covered by any of the above, the Minnesota Assigned Claims Bureau may still be able to assign you coverage. There are conditions, so it depends on your situation.
If you own a vehicle but didn't insure it
Without insurance, you may not be entitled to any No-Fault benefits at all.
If your No-Fault benefits are exhausted or a different insurer ends up paying bills that weren't theirs to pay, a legal concept called subrogation may come into play.
As you can see, the answer to our question, like many legal questions, is rarely obvious. There are many scenarios in which the process can become even more complicated, like if the other party involved is un/under-insured, or if the at-fault person passes away.
If your situation feels complicated, an attorney can help you sort through it.
Be safe out there!
