“Perhaps Alberta’s Child is referring to the fact that when you severely injure someone in a car accident, their hospital bill will commonly be coming out of your pocket or your insurer’s.”
If you have an accident and cause injury to someone in another vehicle, your bodily injury liability will help to defray the medical costs of the folks in the other vehicle.
However, the minimum bodily injury insurance in Maryland is $20,000 per person and $40,000 per accident.
As far as I can tell, however, the auto insurance company would not have had to pay the bodily injury liability to the Frosts, in that it was a single-car accident, and I’m not sure that anyone was held at fault.
In Maryland, the purpose of the personal injury protection coverage (PIP) is to provide for medical cost benefits to the occupants of your own vehicle when you’re in an accident. Thus, I don’t think that the bodily injury liability coverage applies thereto.
However, even if it did, and even if the auto insurance company paid to the limit of the policy, the injuries sustained by these two children far exceeded in cost of treatment $20,000 per child.
Heck, my own auto insurance has liability limits in excess of the state minimums, but even my liability coverage wouldn’t have covered the medical treatment needed by these two kids. We’re talking well into six figures for each child.
It's quite likely that the auto insurer did pay, but that the limits of the insurer's liability were far surpassed, and the children's health insurance kicked in.
sitetest
Maryland:
Section 19-504 provides that “[e]ach motor vehicle liability insurance policy issued, sold, or delivered in the State shall provide the minimum liability coverage specified in Title 17 of the Transportation Article.” Section 17-103(b) of the Transportation Article, in turn, provides:
“(b) The security required under this subtitle shall provide for at least:
“(1) The payment of claims for bodily injury or death arising from an accident of up to $20,000 for any one person and up to $40,000 for any two or more persons, in addition to interest and costs;
Case interpreting in the context of same household/family member:
We hold, therefore, that the “insured” segment of a “household exclusion” clause in an automobile liability insurance policy is invalid to the extent of the minimum statutory liability coverage. So far as the public policy evidenced by *445 the compulsory insurance law is concerned, it is a valid and enforceable contractual provision as to coverage above that minimum. Stearman v. State Farm Mut. Auto. Ins. Co.
381 Md. 436, 849 A.2d 539
Md.,2004. (this case dealt with wife trying to sue husband for negligent operation of vehicle)
Concluding:
At max 20k for each kid. However, it appears that in Maryland a minor child may not sue his/her parent if part of same household at the time of the auto accidnet. Citations Omitted. Therefore, liability coverage for the kids was zero or at most 20k. And much of the 20k, if dispursed, would be recouped by the health insurer or “S-CHIP”.
So insurance is a dead end here people. Unless, it was not the mother driving. Or, unless, some other party was negligent as relates to the black ice (failure to remove, improper water run off ... etc..). But we have no facts to support the existence of any other liable party.
The kids injuries appeared to be awefully bad. While I’ll not tackle the issue of whether the parents legitimately qualified for the schip program, I will say that their kids, blameless, desperately needed the medical care and benefits. Having said this, I’m not about telling others, under threat of jail, that they have to take money from their pocket and give it to someone else to pay for their health care. And that is what socialized health care does. If I want to give my money to help someone out, for instance uninsured kids, then that should be my choice! Hence, the role of charity.