If you suffer an injury, the insurance company may offer you a settlement. This will probably sound like a substantial amount of money at the time, depending on the severity of the injury. Many people are tempted to take it because they want to get that payment and they just want to put the situation behind them. It’s confusing and frustrating and they want it to be over. Accepting the settlement seems like the best option.
But is it? Taking the settlement can be a risky decision if all of your costs will not be covered.
What about your future costs?
You might look at the settlement and your current costs and realize that it does cover what you need to pay. Maybe it pays for your outstanding medical bills after the injury. Perhaps it replaces the wages that you lost. These immediate costs have been included, so it seems fair.
But what will the future look like? What if you can’t go back to work and you have years or even decades of lost future earnings to consider? If they are not in the settlement, you’re going to have a lot of financial trouble once you get through the initial payment.
You also have to think about future medical costs. For instance, someone who suffers a spinal cord injury and becomes paraplegic may have costs that reach over half a million dollars in the first year. But each subsequent year could bring on roughly $70,000 of new costs. Is all of that money included in the settlement, or just the initial costs?
As you can see, there are a lot of questions to ask when determining what steps to take. Be sure you always know about your legal options.