Ohio’s minimum insurance requirements offer minimal protection. Ohio law mandates that drivers carry liability coverage of $25,000 for bodily injury per person, $50,000 per accident, and $25,000 for property damage. These amounts, often summarized as “25/50/25,” are shockingly low and can be exhausted by even a moderately severe accident.

Consider a serious crash where medical expenses, lost wages, and other damages skyrocket far beyond $25,000. If the at-fault driver has only the state minimums, their insurance would cover just a fraction of your costs. You would be left to foot the rest of the bill out-of-pocket, unless you have sufficient UIM coverage.

The Insurance Research Council estimates that in 2023, nearly 18.5% of motorists in Ohio were uninsured. This means you have a significant chance of being hit by a driver with no coverage at all. In this scenario, your UM coverage steps in to pay for your medical bills and other damages.

But the threat isn’t just uninsured drivers; it’s also those who are “underinsured”—meaning they have insurance, but their policy limits are too low to cover the full extent of your injuries. If you are seriously hurt, your damages will likely exceed the at-fault driver’s minimal policy. Your UIM coverage will then make up the difference, but only up to the limits of your own policy.

Why Your UM/UIM Limits Should Match Your Liability Coverage Under Ohio law, you can choose to purchase UM/UIM coverage up to the same limit as your liability coverage. You also have the option to buy an umbrella policy. These provide a powerful layer of protection. Think of it this way: the liability limits you carry are based on the potential damage you could cause to others. Why wouldn’t you want to protect yourself from others to the same degree?

For example, if you have liability limits of $250,000/$500,000, your UM/UIM coverage can also be set at that amount. If you are seriously injured by an underinsured driver with only $25,000 in coverage, your own policy could provide you, individually, with an additional $225,000 in protection after the other driver’s insurance is exhausted. If more than one of you were hurt in the same accident, under this scenario, your own policy could provide up to an additional $475,000 in protection to those injured.

It is vitally important to review your policy and protect yourself. Do not wait for an accident to find out that you are underinsured. The Personal Injury team at Pickrel, Schaeffer and Ebeling can assist you with questions concerning insurance coverage and what makes sense for your situation. Review your auto insurance policy today!

In Ohio, a small investment in higher UM/UIM limits is a powerful financial safeguard against the risks on the road.

Mike Bly can help put your mind at ease! To confirm you have the right coverage, contact Mike at mbly@pselaw.com or 937-223-1130 to verify that you have both uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage, and that the limits are set high enough to truly protect you and your family.

The post Don’t Become a Victim Twice: Uninsured Motorist Coverage in Ohio Matters appeared first on Pickrel Schaeffer & Ebeling.

Fortunately, the beginning of 2022 is bringing more than New Year’s resolutions and a reset of the annual calendar. Effective January 1, 2022, is the federal No Surprises Act, which was enacted as part of the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2021. The Act is intended to prevent consumers with private health care insurance who inadvertently receive health care services from an out-of-network provider (particularly in an emergency room setting) from incurring “surprise” medical bills from those out-of-network providers after the fact.
In doing so, the Act requires private health insurance plans to cover certain out-of-network claims and apply in-network cost sharing to those claims. In particular, no surprise/out-of-network billing is permitted under the Act for:

• Patients receiving emergency room care (also applies to urgent care centers providing emergency services)
• • Includes post-emergency stabilization services, which last until a physician determines that a patient can be safely transported to another in-network facility using non-medical transport and an in-network facility is able to accept such a transfer
• Patients who are transported by air ambulance (but does not cover ground ambulance costs)
• Patients who receive care (including non-emergency services) at an in-network health care facility

Under the No Surprises Act, out-of-network health care providers and private health insurance plans are to engage in a semi-collaborative process in order for insured patients to pay in-network rates for services covered under the Act:

• Health care providers first submit an out-of-network bill directly to the patient’s insurance health plan
• The patient’s private health plan then has up to 30 days to advise the out-of-network provider of the applicable in-network cost-sharing amount for the particular claim
• The health plan will then send an initial payment to the provider and send the insured patient an Explanation of Benefits (“EOB”) indicating the in-network cost-sharing amount that the patient owes the out-of-network provider
• The out-of-network provider can then send the patient a bill for the in-network cost-sharing amount

The Act specifically prohibits covered health care providers from billing patients above in-network cost-sharing rates for surprise/out-of-network medical bills, providing a penalty of up to $10,000 for each violation. Furthermore, health care providers are required to give consumers written notice describing consumer protections available under the No Surprises Act whenever providing a service covered under the Act.

Next time you or a loved one are facing the unnerving scenario of being hit with unexpected high out-of-network medical bills, consult the experienced personal injury attorneys at Pickrel, Schaeffer & Ebeling.

For inquiries regarding your protections under this new piece of federal legislation, or for any personal injury-related matters, contact our head personal injury counsel, L. Michael Bly, Esq. at (937) 223-1130, mbly@pselaw.com, or Matthew S. Hauer, Esq. at (937) 223-1130, mhauer@pselaw.com.

(Article: Mike Bly & Matt Hauer)

The post New Year, New Federal Protections Against “Surprise” Out-of-Network Health Care Costs appeared first on Pickrel Schaeffer & Ebeling.

In reversing its earlier decision, the Ohio Supreme Court held that in accordance with R.C. 1701.82(A)(3) “all assets and property, including employment contracts and agreements, and every interest in the assets and property of each constituent entity transfer through the operation of law to the resulting company post-merger.”

Thus, the non-compete agreements you negotiate with your employees and/or independent contractors will survive a sale or merger and the company acquiring your business will be able to enforce the terms and conditions of those agreements.   This additional factor could be a vital asset when negotiating the sale or merger of your business.

If you have any questions about this or other ways about how to protect your proprietary interests, please get in touch with L. Michael Bly, Esq., at mbly@pselaw.com or call 937.223.1130.

The post Do Non-Compete Agreements Transfer With the Sale or Merger of my Business? appeared first on Pickrel Schaeffer & Ebeling.