Medical payments (MedPay)
Pays medical and, at most carriers, funeral expenses for you and anyone riding with you, regardless of who caused the accident. No deductible, no waiting for a fault determination.
It sits in front of your health insurance and is commonly used for exactly the costs health insurance leaves behind — the deductible, the copays, the ambulance bill.
Personal injury protection (PIP)
Everything MedPay does, plus two things it does not.
- Lost wages. A share of the income you lose while you are unable to work.
- Essential services. The cost of paying somebody to do what you can no longer do — childcare, housekeeping and similar.
In Texas, PIP must be offered on every policy and your rejection of it must be in writing. The minimum offer is a modest amount and higher limits are usually available and usually cheap.
You carry one or the other
A vehicle carries MedPay or PIP, not both. Which is available depends on the state and the carrier.
PIP is broader, and where both are offered it is usually the better buy for a small difference in premium — the wage replacement alone tends to justify it.
Why it is worth having even with good health insurance
A health plan has a deductible and copays, and a car accident can hit them all at once. MedPay and PIP cover exactly that, immediately, without a liability claim being settled first.
They also cover your passengers, who may not have health coverage at all and whose bills would otherwise land back on you.
They do not reduce anything else
Using MedPay or PIP does not come out of a liability settlement and does not reduce what you can recover from the at-fault driver. It is a separate coverage you paid for.
- Both pay regardless of fault, with no deductible.
- PIP adds lost wages and essential services; MedPay does not.
- A vehicle carries one or the other, never both.
- In Texas, rejecting PIP has to be in writing.