Who Pays the Medical Bills After an Atlanta Car Accident? Georgia’s 2025 Rule Explained

After a crash, the medical bills often arrive before anything else: the ambulance, the emergency room, imaging, follow-up visits and therapy. If you were hurt in an Atlanta car accident, how those bills are counted in your claim changed in 2025. A new Georgia law now lets juries hear what health insurance pays, not just what providers charge. Here is how the rule works and what to keep.

Why medical bills are central to a crash claim

In a Georgia personal injury case, medical expenses are “special damages,” meaning losses that can be measured in dollars. They often drive the value of a claim. Insurers look closely at medical bills because they also influence how adjusters and juries view pain and suffering, lost earning capacity and future care. Future medical needs, such as surgery or long-term therapy, are usually supported by a treating doctor’s opinion and the same billing records.

The problem is that a medical bill can have several different numbers attached to it. A hospital may list one charge, a health insurer may pay a much lower negotiated rate, and a provider treating under a letter of protection may expect the full charge from a settlement. For years, Georgia’s collateral source rule generally kept a jury from hearing that insurance had paid a reduced amount. That changed with Senate Bill 68.

The new rule: O.C.G.A. § 51-12-1.1

Senate Bill 68 was signed and took effect on April 21, 2025. Section 7 of the Act created O.C.G.A. § 51-12-1.1, which now governs how medical expenses are recovered in cases involving injury or death. It has several key parts:

• Reasonable value of necessary care. Medical expense damages are limited to the reasonable value of medically necessary care, treatment or services. The jury decides that amount.
• Billed and paid amounts both come in. If the injured person has any form of public or private health insurance, including benefits under a governmental workers’ compensation program, the evidence on reasonable value includes both the amounts charged and the amounts actually needed to satisfy those charges under the insurance contract or program.
• Whether or not insurance was used. That evidence comes in regardless of whether the health insurance has been, is being or will be used to pay the bills.
• Collateral source rule narrowed. The statute says it abrogates the common law collateral source rule to the extent needed to admit this evidence. The court may still give jury instructions explaining the role of collateral source payments to avoid confusion.
• Reasonableness can still be challenged. Either side may present evidence or testimony challenging whether charges are reasonable or whether treatment was medically necessary, for past and future care.

Letters of protection

Some injured people receive treatment under a “letter of protection.” The provider agrees to wait for payment until the case settles or ends in a verdict, usually in exchange for a promise that the bill will be paid from the recovery. These arrangements can help people who have no insurance or cannot afford copays, but the new law opens them to closer scrutiny.

Under the statute, when treatment is provided under a letter of protection or a similar arrangement, the following are relevant and discoverable:

• A copy of the letter of protection;
• All charges, itemized and, where applicable, coded according to generally accepted medical billing practices;
• If the provider sold the account to a third party for less than the invoice price, the name of that third party and the dollar amount it paid; and
• Whether you were referred for treatment under the arrangement and, if so, who made the referral.

Expect the defense to ask about each of these. If a lawyer, a friend or a clinic referred you to a provider, be ready for that to come up.

Does the new rule apply to your crash?

Timing matters. Section 9 of the Act says the medical expense section applies only to causes of action arising on or after April 21, 2025. Claims from earlier crashes remain governed by prior law. For a car accident, the cause of action generally arises on the date of the crash, so the crash date is the first thing to check.

A hypothetical example

Hypothetical: A driver is hit while turning onto Ponce de Leon Avenue in 2026. The emergency room bills $18,000, and her health plan pays $6,500 under its contract. She later sees a therapist under a letter of protection, who bills $9,000 and sells the account to a funding company for $4,000.

Under the new rule, the jury may hear both the $18,000 charge and the $6,500 her plan paid. The defense may obtain the letter of protection, the itemized therapy bills, the funding company’s name and the $4,000 purchase price. The jury then decides the reasonable value of the care that was medically necessary. Her side may still present evidence that the charges were reasonable and the treatment necessary.

Other ways your medical bills may get paid

The question of what a jury may hear is separate from the question of who pays the bills while your claim is pending. Depending on your situation, bills may be paid through:

• Your health insurance. Your plan may have the right to be repaid from a settlement, depending on its terms. Ask for a copy of the plan’s reimbursement language.
• Medical payments coverage. If your own auto policy includes it, this coverage can pay some medical bills regardless of fault.
• The at-fault driver’s liability insurance. This usually pays only at settlement or judgment, not as bills arrive.
• Uninsured motorist coverage. If the other driver had no insurance or too little, your own UM coverage may apply.

Steps to take now

1. Give every provider your health insurance information and ask whether they will bill it. Under the new rule, the insurer-paid amount may come into evidence either way.
2. Keep every explanation of benefits (EOB) along with each bill. Both numbers now matter.
3. Read any letter of protection before you sign it. Ask what the provider will charge, whether the account may be sold and what happens if the case does not resolve as expected.
4. Keep records of medical necessity, such as referrals, imaging orders, prescriptions and treatment notes explaining why care was needed.
5. Follow your treatment plan. Gaps in care can make it harder to show necessity.
6. Write down who referred you to each provider and when.
7. Track the deadline. Most Georgia personal injury lawsuits must be filed within two years (O.C.G.A. § 9-3-33).

For the bigger picture, see our guide on how a car accident claim works, step by step. If the driver who hit you had no insurance, our post on how uninsured motorist coverage works explains your options, and our post on evidence to save when fault is disputed covers what to gather early.

How our office can help

The new rule makes medical billing records a bigger part of every injury case. Our office can gather bills, EOBs and plan documents, review any letter of protection, identify reimbursement claims and build the proof of reasonable value a jury will weigh. If you are looking for an Atlanta car accident lawyer, we can review your claim and explain how the 2025 law may affect it.

Call us today, at (770) 840-9098 to speak with Attorney Ned Ogueri.

Disclaimer: This article is general information, not legal advice. Past results do not guarantee a similar outcome. We handle injury cases on a contingency fee basis: you pay no attorney fee and no case costs unless we recover compensation for you. If we do, costs are repaid from the recovery as your written fee agreement explains.