Once you receive a denial to your insurance claim, you may think that your only option is to just pay for your medical injuries and damages out of your own pocket. Yet you do have another option. You can appeal your claim and make a formal demand for compensation.
Before you take any steps in appealing your claim, you want to understand the reason for the denial. Did you wait too long to inform the insurance company about the accident? Is the injury covered by your insurance policy? Were there any policy exceptions that your personal injuries fall under where your claim could be denied, and is your policy still active? All of these instances can be used by your insurance company to deny your claim. There are also other reasons why an insurance claim may be denied:
Always look at the denial letter to see if the insurance company provided a reason for denying your claim. Once you know the reason, you can take the steps necessary to prove your case to the insurance company so that they will not be able to deny your claim a second time when you reapply.
Most insurance companies will have an appeals process, and many states may require that an insurance company to go through arbitration or an appeal’s process for all denied claims. The length of this particular process can vary. It is always ideal to have legal representation as your attorney will have more knowledge about these claim cases and arbitration stages with insurance company. Then they can leverage their legal experience to help you win your claim and seek out the compensation amount that you demand.
You should appeal any insurance claim that you feel should be compensated. You should also appeal your claim if you feel that the insurance company is engaging in improper claim denial practices. Your attorney will be able to review state laws in regards to prohibited acts and make an additional claim toward the insurance company for engaging in such illegal practices that go against state laws. If you go through all the steps in appealing a denied claim and the insurance company still will not offer compensation, you may decide to file a lawsuit.