JCS: Attorney Glenn Klausman for Colbert Court 10/15/2026

For this edition of Colbert Court, Attorney Glenn Klausman talks about an email he received from a listener, who was in a car accident caused by another driver. The hospital wanted their car insurance but they didn't give it because the crash wasn't their fault. The hospital bill was over $35,000. What can they do?

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Speaker 1: Documentary uh idiocracy didn't they live inside of a costco

Speaker 1: that also had like a train in it because it

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Speaker 1: complexes inside the costco and i think costco is actually

Speaker 1: starting to develop stores that have apartments above it so

Speaker 1: we are becoming idiocracy quickly Wow.

Speaker 2: I did not know that you'd only seen parts of Idiocracy.

Speaker 2: I haven't seen the whole thing all the way through.

Speaker 2: I think the movie is depressing now. I think the

Speaker 2: movie is good. I kind of have a hard time

Speaker 2: calling it great, but the premise is intoxicating and prophetic.

Speaker 2: And that's a Mike Judge project, right?

Speaker 1: Yes.

Speaker 2: All right, 407-916-1041. Text us 77031. Cash is your 4

Speaker 2: o'clock keyword. C-A-S-H. Go to realradio.fm and send that away

Speaker 2: for your chance at $ 1, 000. I'm Jim. Deb, Jack, and

Speaker 2: Ross are here as well. Let's do Colbert Court. What

Speaker 2: you are listening to is real. Well, sort of.

Speaker 3: The participants are not actors.

Speaker 4: That's a fact.

Speaker 3: This is, however, a real case that will be decided

Speaker 3: here in our forum, the Colbert Court.

Speaker 2: Colbert Court brought to you by our very good friend,

Speaker 2: Glenn Klausman of Klausman Law. That's K-L-A-U-S-M-A-N-L-A-W.com. Office is right

Speaker 2: there in Winter Park, 407-917-1718. Car crash, call Klausman. Guys,

Speaker 2: good and loud for Mr. Glenn Klausman.

Speaker 1: Yay!

Speaker 2: Legal Elite Super Lawyer. He is the man. How are you, friend?

Speaker 1: Good, good.

Speaker 2: Always good seeing you.

Speaker 4: Good seeing you all.

Speaker 2: How was your travels?

Speaker 4: Travels were great. Had a good time.

Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, yeah. You want to do a brief reason

Speaker 2: you were traveling? I think that's kind of an interesting story.

Speaker 4: It's an interesting story. My wife has been doing genealogy

Speaker 4: for a long time and found a Revolutionary War soldier

Speaker 4: who was honored with some kind of honor. And she

Speaker 4: found that they couldn't figure out where his grave was.

Speaker 4: So they had a good idea. It was in a

Speaker 4: little town in Pennsylvania, and we had a marker made

Speaker 4: for this Patriots grave. And we went up there, and

Speaker 4: they had a ceremony where people in the town came out.

Speaker 4: We had a color guard there. It's a little church

Speaker 4: with a cemetery in the back like so many of

Speaker 4: them are in Pennsylvania.

Speaker 1: Yeah.

Speaker 4: And it was an interesting time, yeah. We honored the Patriot,

Speaker 4: and they did a little article in the newspaper there. Very,

Speaker 4: very cool stuff, dude. And the photographs you sent are

Speaker 4: pretty badass. That's very cool, dude. Yeah, there's some other

Speaker 4: cool photographs I have with the church and the cemetery

Speaker 4: behind it, all these very, very old headstones. Uh, it

Speaker 4: was interesting.

Speaker 1: Yeah.

Speaker 5: Yeah.

Speaker 2: Very nice.

Speaker 3: Yeah.

Speaker 2: Uh, uh, we have, are we going to put any

Speaker 2: of those photos up maybe on Facebook or anything or no?

Speaker 4: I might want to go home. I'll, I'll make sure

Speaker 4: she wants me to.

Speaker 5: Yeah.

Speaker 2: Yeah.

Speaker 4: I mean, she's in them, you know, she doesn't, she,

Speaker 4: I was very proud of her. Did a nice presentation.

Speaker 4: And it was interesting.

Speaker 2: Very nice. Well, Glenn drops by every Thursday around this time.

Speaker 2: He brings a case to us, and we'll read the case.

Speaker 2: We've got to go around the room trying to figure

Speaker 2: it out ourselves. And then, of course, we'll bring Glenn

Speaker 2: in at the end. Glenn is a personal injury attorney

Speaker 2: here in Central Florida specializing in in car crash accidents

Speaker 2: and injuries, but he can do everything. He does trip

Speaker 2: and falls as well. If you've been injured and you

Speaker 2: don't feel that you're at fault, you need to call Glenn.

Speaker 2: Glenn's very good at this stuff. And if you've been

Speaker 2: in a car accident, you definitely need to call Glenn

Speaker 2: because Glenn is a savant at that stuff. So he

Speaker 2: brings the case and we'll read it and try to

Speaker 2: figure it out. And then of course, if we can't,

Speaker 2: Glenn will tell us what's up. We do this so

Speaker 2: that you can be informed that when you get into crashes,

Speaker 2: there's more nuance than you believe. And we're trying to

Speaker 2: kind of shine a light on that. So you get

Speaker 2: taken care of. Just want to help people as much

Speaker 2: as possible. Absolutely.

Speaker 4: And this is a common question I get that we're

Speaker 4: going to talk about today. And people that have other

Speaker 4: lawyers that have cases ongoing with this, they should be

Speaker 4: aware of the situation with health insurance and car insurance

Speaker 4: and all that kind of stuff that we'll go over today.

Speaker 2: Very nice. Faticus? I was born.

Speaker 4: Very good.

Speaker 2: Here we go.

Speaker 3: Well, we figured that already.

Speaker 2: Here we go.

Speaker 6: That's different.

Speaker 2: I was in a car accident caused by another driver

Speaker 2: slamming into the rear of my car. When it happened,

Speaker 2: I felt dizzy and was so disoriented that I could

Speaker 2: not remember my husband's cell phone number. When I finally

Speaker 2: figured out my husband's cell number, he came and picked

Speaker 2: me up and took me to the hospital. Common question.

Speaker 3: Well, first you need to hire an attorney.

Speaker 6: Well, I think you do give your auto insurance information.

Speaker 6: Your auto insurance is going to fight it out with

Speaker 6: their auto insurance. I learned this from a very smart attorney.

Speaker 6: I think his name is Glenn.

Speaker 2: Yeah.

Speaker 6: But they will figure it out.

Speaker 2: Okay.

Speaker 6: You don't have to kind of– Use your health insurance

Speaker 6: in this situation.

Speaker 2: And that's what she wants. She wants to use her

Speaker 2: health insurance because she believes if she gets her car

Speaker 2: insurance in play that her rates are going to go up,

Speaker 2: which is illegal, by the way. They're not supposed to

Speaker 2: do that.

Speaker 5: Well, my understanding is that she already has used her

Speaker 5: health insurance because she didn't want to give the hospital

Speaker 5: her auto insurance card.

Speaker 3: And now she has the bills over $ 30, 000, $ 35, 000. So

Speaker 3: to recover.

Speaker 6: So I think she should have used her auto insurance

Speaker 6: in this.

Speaker 2: 99%. She was rear-ended, right?

Speaker 4: Correct.

Speaker 6: And what we learned, I learned this from a very

Speaker 6: smart attorney. I think his name was Glenn as well.

Speaker 3: Are they related?

Speaker 6: Yeah, they are.

Speaker 2: Same person. Twins.

Speaker 6: Yeah, yeah. That 99% of the time, it's the person

Speaker 6: in the back.

Speaker 2: They're at fault.

Speaker 5: But I have to say, I think I would feel

Speaker 5: like this woman because it's one thing. if a law

Speaker 5: enforcement officer asks for your auto insurance card, but when

Speaker 5: I'm in the hospital and I don't know you and

Speaker 5: I don't know what you're going to file with this

Speaker 5: insurance and You're not giving me legal advice. I would

Speaker 5: feel a little like, well, I don't know. What are

Speaker 5: you going to do with it? What are you going

Speaker 5: to say to them? I mean, are they going to

Speaker 5: talk to me? I would say, you know what? Before

Speaker 5: I give you this card, I need you to talk

Speaker 5: to my attorney. His name is Glenn Klausman. I just

Speaker 5: learned from this attorney. I don't know if you guys

Speaker 5: know him.

Speaker 2: Name's Glenn. Yeah, yeah.

Speaker 6: Yeah, he– these guys– the way he explains it is–

Speaker 6: They will settle it. It's like your insurance company, they're

Speaker 6: not just going to take the hit. They're going to

Speaker 6: go after the other person's insurance company.

Speaker 2: Correct me if I'm wrong here, but does she have

Speaker 2: a choice? Can she tell the hospital? The hospital says, hey,

Speaker 2: I need your health insurance. She's like, I didn't even

Speaker 2: cause this wreck. I don't want to give you any

Speaker 2: of my insurance. She wound up giving the health insurance,

Speaker 2: but does she have the right to say, I'm not

Speaker 2: giving you any of my insurance information. I didn't cause

Speaker 2: any of this wreck. Go find the guy who busted

Speaker 2: into me. He's the guy that got to pay for

Speaker 2: all this.

Speaker 4: And they might say, well, then we're not going to

Speaker 4: see you. We need some insurance, so we're not going

Speaker 4: to see you. Or you're on the hook for it.

Speaker 4: Find us that you agree to pay. So let me

Speaker 4: ask a question.

Speaker 2: Does the husband taking her to the hospital make a

Speaker 2: difference in this case?

Speaker 4: Not at all.

Speaker 2: Instead of riding in an ambulance? Not at all.

Speaker 1: Okay.

Speaker 2: Not at all.

Speaker 3: Was there a police report?

Speaker 4: There's a police report.

Speaker 2: Oh, Mr. Crosby, is there really a scenario where a

Speaker 2: doctor will go, well, if you're not going to give it, bye-bye,

Speaker 2: whatever happened to that oath?

Speaker 4: Well, you know. That's a great question. Some doctors' offices

Speaker 4: do not want to take car insurance even because they

Speaker 4: have problems getting paid when they take car insurance. It's

Speaker 4: so much easier taking health insurance because it's all electronic.

Speaker 4: They send their bills in. The staff does it. They

Speaker 4: get paid. Yeah, I mean, they have an option to

Speaker 4: say whether or not they want to treat a patient

Speaker 4: or whether or not they want to take that person's insurance.

Speaker 2: Is there enough insurance to cover the bills for the driver? Well,

Speaker 2: she's got health insurance.

Speaker 4: She's got health insurance.

Speaker 2: Yeah, but it shouldn't hit her health insurance, though, right?

Speaker 1: Well.

Speaker 2: I mean, yeah, of course, like Jack was saying, she

Speaker 2: has health insurance. That's not really the issue. We know

Speaker 2: it's going to get paid for, but that health insurance

Speaker 2: company is going to go to their insurance company, the

Speaker 2: person who caused the crash, and try to get reimbursed, right?

Speaker 1: No.

Speaker 4: Here's what actually happens. What actually happens is because she

Speaker 4: used her health insurance, and folks that have been in

Speaker 4: car accidents and use health insurance know this is what happened,

Speaker 4: and they'll probably text in, she will get a letter

Speaker 4: in the mail from her health insurance company saying, were

Speaker 4: you in a car accident? Was this a work-related injury?

Speaker 4: And if she answers yes to those questions, they're not

Speaker 4: going to pay because auto insurance pays first. This is

Speaker 4: a no-fault state. What that means is your own auto

Speaker 4: insurance pays your first $ 10, 000 towards your medical bills. So

Speaker 4: when she gives her health insurance, they may bill health insurance.

Speaker 4: I'm sure they will bill health insurance. And maybe health

Speaker 4: insurance just slips through the cracks and health insurance pays.

Speaker 4: But health insurance normally will not pay until you prove

Speaker 4: to health insurance that you've used your $ 10, 000 of auto

Speaker 4: insurance to cover your medical bills. The insurance industry wanted

Speaker 4: this type of law. They wanted a law that says,

Speaker 4: Your own company pays the first $ 10, 000, and then whatever happens,

Speaker 4: happens after that. And by the way, they don't go

Speaker 4: back to the at-fault party to get that $ 10, 000 that

Speaker 4: your own company has paid under no-fault insurance. It's just …

Speaker 4: That doesn't happen.

Speaker 2: So after that, there's a balance still. So there's 10 grand.

Speaker 2: So there's still $ 25, 000 that has to be made up.

Speaker 2: Is that when they go to the person who caused

Speaker 2: the crash and look for that insurance to make up that?

Speaker 4: Let's take it back a step. So let's say the

Speaker 4: bill is 100 grand and the 10 grand is paid

Speaker 4: by your auto insurance. Now you get a 90 grand bill.

Speaker 4: If you now send that bill to your health insurance,

Speaker 4: the hospital has a negotiated rate with health insurance. And

Speaker 4: that $ 90, 000 balance might get cut down to $ 5, 000 or $ 10, 000.

Speaker 4: I mean, people see it all the time. You get

Speaker 4: a $ 100, 000 hospital bill, your health insurance is paid $ 8.

Speaker 2: 000, $ 10, 000.

Speaker 4: $ 9, 000, and you have a $ 100 balance because that's your deductible.

Speaker 4: So it's a benefit to her after she uses her

Speaker 4: car insurance, yes, to use her health insurance. because that's

Speaker 4: going to greatly reduce her bill. On this $ 35, 000 after

Speaker 4: her car insurance pays $ 10, 000, Her health insurance may pay

Speaker 4: a few thousand dollars, and she'll probably own nothing unless

Speaker 4: she has like a $ 100 deductible.

Speaker 2: So what happens to the guy who calls the accident?

Speaker 4: Great question. We've got to keep going along the timeline here.

Speaker 4: All right, I'll shut up. So what happens next is

Speaker 4: she goes after the guy who caused the crash. His

Speaker 4: company will pay a certain amount of money towards her settlement.

Speaker 4: Now the health insurance says, oh, we paid $ 3, 000 towards

Speaker 4: your bills. We want you to pay that $ 3, 000 back

Speaker 4: from your settlement. And that happens all the time because

Speaker 4: everybody's health insurance has a clause in it that says

Speaker 4: if we pay your medical bills and you recover money

Speaker 4: from somebody else for the medical bills that we paid,

Speaker 4: you've got to pay us back. And then at that point,

Speaker 4: the lawyers need to negotiate with the health insurance company

Speaker 4: to say, look, this person has had to pay a

Speaker 4: certain percentage to get their money, an attorney's fees to

Speaker 4: get their money. You need to reduce the health insurance company.

Speaker 4: You need to reduce this. What you're getting paid back

Speaker 4: by that same percentage wouldn't be fair.

Speaker 2: So let me ask, man. I mean, it's interesting. So

Speaker 2: she had scans on her neck, back, and on her what?

Speaker 3: Brain.

Speaker 2: Yeah, on her brain.

Speaker 4: Because she was woozy.

Speaker 2: Right, yeah, she was woozy. So we don't know. I

Speaker 2: don't know if there's any therapies that were needed after this,

Speaker 2: but let's just assume there were. And let's say the

Speaker 2: therapies had to go on for six months, and it's

Speaker 2: twice a week. So those therapy sessions are going to

Speaker 2: run up another– anywhere from $ 15, 000 to $ 20, 000 in therapy sessions.

Speaker 2: Who would pay that?

Speaker 4: Well, let's say she ends up with a diagnosis of

Speaker 4: a brain injury.

Speaker 5: Yeah.

Speaker 4: And, yeah, she's got health insurance. That's why she's got it.

Speaker 4: Health insurance will cover it. That's why health insurance is

Speaker 4: so important.

Speaker 2: Right, right, right.

Speaker 4: You know, people that don't have health insurance, I see

Speaker 4: it all the time, we'll get maybe a $ 100, 000 hospital

Speaker 4: bill and they don't have health insurance. And now I've

Speaker 4: got to try to negotiate with the hospital because maybe

Speaker 4: there's only $ 100, 000 to pay all the claims. So I've

Speaker 4: got to negotiate with the hospital. But if that person

Speaker 4: had health insurance, that $ 100, 000 bill, that balance might only

Speaker 4: be $ 8, 000, $ 9, 000, $ 10, 000.

Speaker 2: That is unbelievable.

Speaker 6: Glenn, fortunately, the guy who hit her had insurance. But

Speaker 6: let's say he was underinsured or didn't have any insurance

Speaker 6: at all. Is there anything the person in the front

Speaker 6: car could have done to help them in a situation

Speaker 6: such as that?

Speaker 4: Yeah, I would think all of you know the answer

Speaker 4: to that question.

Speaker 3: Uninsured motorist coverage.

Speaker 4: That's right, uninsured motorist coverage. That's why it's so important.

Speaker 3: We learned that from an attorney named Glenn.

Speaker 6: Yeah.

Speaker 4: Yep, yep. Although there's other folks that are now jumping

Speaker 4: on that bandwagon.

Speaker 2: Yeah.

Speaker 3: We started it.

Speaker 2: Yeah, we did.

Speaker 4: This is an actual case. This is a lady who

Speaker 4: called up, and apparently she's doing well. She felt like

Speaker 4: she didn't need a lawyer. She didn't want to pursue anything.

Speaker 2: Yeah, but you've got to do that because of the

Speaker 2: money that's out.

Speaker 4: Yeah, well, I explained things to her, and she felt like,

Speaker 4: you know, I don't really need a lawyer. I don't

Speaker 4: want to pursue it. Maybe the at-fault guy's insurance company

Speaker 4: has contacted her already and said, we're going to pay

Speaker 4: you X amount of dollars. I don't know what happened.

Speaker 4: All I know is she said, I'm okay. I don't

Speaker 4: need a lawyer. I'm upset that my health insurance was used.

Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 5: Well, here's a question, though, Glenn, because this is kind

Speaker 5: of confusing because a lot of times we'll get text

Speaker 5: messages from listeners who are saying, but I was told

Speaker 5: by my insurance agent that I don't need uninsured motorist

Speaker 5: coverage because I have health insurance. So how do you

Speaker 5: clear up the confusion with a great question?

Speaker 2: That's great.

Speaker 4: And that's, it's terrible that that stuff still goes on.

Speaker 4: And I don't know why it goes on. I, we

Speaker 4: represent a doctor who did not have uninsured motorist coverage

Speaker 4: because he said his agent told him he didn't need it.

Speaker 3: Oh my God. And that's a doctor who could afford it. Yeah.

Speaker 3: No problem.

Speaker 4: He could afford it. And, you know, consequently there was

Speaker 4: less money to compensate him for his injuries. Fortunately, his

Speaker 4: injuries weren't that bad, but still, yeah, that's wrong. The,

Speaker 4: There's all kinds of coverages you can buy on auto insurance.

Speaker 4: One of them is called medical payments coverage. Medical payments

Speaker 4: coverage pays additional medical bills on top of what your

Speaker 4: no-fault insurance pays toward that first $ 10, 000. If you have

Speaker 4: health insurance, you probably don't need medical payments coverage, but

Speaker 4: you need uninsured motorist coverage, which is also underinsured motorist coverage.

Speaker 4: And we've gone over this so many times before because

Speaker 4: people that are causing accidents and injuring you and your

Speaker 4: family members are More often than not, do not have

Speaker 4: enough insurance to pay for your damages and your injuries.

Speaker 4: And that's where your uninsured motorist coverage kicks in, pays

Speaker 4: what The at-fault party cannot pay, and that's why it's

Speaker 4: so important.

Speaker 2: What I just heard you say makes me have to

Speaker 2: ask you, is there a scenario where there's good luck

Speaker 2: in a car accident because the person at fault was

Speaker 2: responsible and was doing all right and got more insurance?

Speaker 2: Is that a society that we currently live in?

Speaker 4: That's a great question, and it's a situation where I

Speaker 4: have cases where the at-fault party People are a commercial vehicle,

Speaker 4: and they've got $ 5 million in coverage. I've got a

Speaker 4: case where there's $ 12 million in coverage. And, yeah, there's

Speaker 4: benefits to having a lot of coverage that, you know,

Speaker 4: if you have a lot of coverage, it's going to

Speaker 4: protect you if you hurt somebody by accident, and it's

Speaker 4: going to. very, very likely protect the person that you hurt.

Speaker 2: And one of the main reasons we have you in

Speaker 2: is so you can shine some light on this stuff

Speaker 2: because a lot of people do not know this. There's

Speaker 2: a lot of nuance, like I said before, in how

Speaker 2: you can use your insurances. Number one thing is make sure, obviously,

Speaker 2: if you can afford health insurance or if you get

Speaker 2: it through your work, that's obviously great. But one way

Speaker 2: to combat that is get your uninsured or underinsured insurance.

Speaker 2: You should call your agent, ask about it. It's like

Speaker 2: a cheat code for insurance. If you can make it happen,

Speaker 2: you should for sure.

Speaker 4: Absolutely. Everybody should have uninsured motorist coverage.

Speaker 2: Always good seeing you, buddy.

Speaker 4: Good laughing.

Speaker 2: Great. Thank you. Yay! That's Klausman Law. K-L-A-U-M-A-N.

Speaker 1: Oh, man.

Speaker 2: K-L-A-U-S-M-A-N Law. That's right.

Speaker 1: 407-917-1718.

Speaker 2: Car crash. Go Klausman. Put that number in your cell phone. Yeah,

Speaker 2: you do it for sure. I will see you soon.

Speaker 4: All right.

Speaker 5: 407-916-1041.

Speaker 2: Back with a fresh keyword now.