So, I am a Kentucky car wreck lawyer, and no matter how many ways I explain it, no-fault insurance, a.k.a. PIP benefits, is always confusing to people who have been injured in car accidents. To make matters worse, the Kentucky Legislature just changed the PIP statute, KRS 304.39-020. Briefly, I am going to explain the changes so that you might better understand your legal rights after a car accident in Kentucky. However, I do want to say one more thing first.
The changes in this statute may sound simple, but in reality, they are going to have some significant effects on car accident law in Kentucky; effects that will not fully be known until some significant litigation follows. For now, it is clear to me that, especially with these changes, I think you, the injured car wreck victim, all the more need the assistance of an experienced car accident lawyer. Because, very simply, it does not do an injured person any good to recover $100,000 on a personal injury claim and pay out $98,000 for medical bills. I can see these changes working both in favor of and against the injured motorist, depending upon which medical providers they choose and whether those medical providers use deceitful billing practices to get around the reduction of their medical charges. As a result, I am all the more convinced that you need a good car wreck lawyer who will lay out a game plan with you wherein you can get the treatment you need while not going into debt for your medical expenses.
THE EASY AND THE GOOD CHANGES
Let’s talk about the good. Effective July 15, 2026, you can now recover $500 in lost wages from a car wreck; instead of just $200 a week, the previous amount allowed under the Kentucky Motor Vehicle Reparations Act. Also, the statute changes will now let you recover up to $5,000 in burial and funeral expenses from a car accident. This is a substantial increase over the $1,000 previously allowed for funeral expenses. Lastly, in regard to replacement lost services, you can now recover up to $500 a week. A quick example would be you usually cut your own lawn, but now, because of injuries sustained in a car wreck, your doctor tells you to hire a landscaper, which costs you $60 a week. You can recover that $60 a week from the no-fault carrier, only as long as you have written documentation from the doctor restricting your ability to perform lawncare. All these changes are in KRS 304.39-020, which is part of the Kentucky Motor Vehicle Reparations Act. It is not entirely clear whether these changes will start on July 15, 2026, or the next time your insurance policy renews.
THE BIG CHANGE
Now let’s get to the big changes. Kentucky no-fault insurance or PIP benefits are now paid not according to the billed amount by the medical provider, but rather, the amount listed in the Kentucky Workers’ Compensation fee schedule. The workers’ compensation fee schedule is established by the Commonwealth of Kentucky for injury cases wherein a person was injured on the job. Now, the fee schedule will dictate how much a medical provider is paid by a no-fault or PIP carrier.
In other words, in the past, if your chiropractor billed $100 for an adjustment, they were paid $100 by the no-fault carrier. However, with the new changes to the statute, if the worker’s compensation fee schedule says that chiropractic adjustments should only be paid at $50, your chiropractor will only be paid $50 for that same service. This reduction only applies to PIP or no-fault benefits paid and does not apply if the PIP benefits are exhausted.
USING THAT BIG CHANGE IN PIP TO YOUR BENEFIT
This change should make your PIP benefits go farther, as now, the $10,000 in PIP coverage should pay for more treatment than before. With this in mind, there are a couple of obvious steps for you, the automobile driver and consumer, to take before you are in a car accident.
First, get rid of your PIP or no-fault deductible. Not only can you not recover this deductible from the at-fault party, but also, why would you want a deductible that now limits your ability to reduce your medical bills? In short, you may save $50 a year by having a PIP deductible, but that same $1,000 in coverage, if there is no deductible, could arguably save you over $1,000 in medical expenses, because of this new reduction in the amount paid for PIP benefits.
Second, look at getting optional PIP coverage, especially if you don’t have health insurance. $10,000 of no-fault coverage is the standard amount in Kentucky. Your insurer offers you the ability to buy optional or no-fault coverage; $30,000 more in additional coverage, for example. So, if you were in a bad wreck and you have a $60,000 emergency room bill, but you are under the workers’ compensation fee schedule, the hospital services only total $25,000, the argument is that the hospital has to write off $35,000 of their charges if they accept the $25,000 payment from the no-fault carrier. In other words, if the medical provider is paid in full under the PIP coverage, they have to accept the amount listed under the workers’ compensation fee schedule. This is a benefit to you as it reduces the total amount owed for your medical bills, and yes, this benefit applies whether you were at fault or not at fault for the car wreck. For this reason, I just added $30,000 of added, PIP coverage to my own car insurance policy, and it cost me about $27 for six months of insurance coverage.
So, things are not clear-cut in exactly how the application of this statute and the reduction of medical bills will work. For example, is a hospital that receives money from a no-fault carrier less than the full amount prescribed under the workers’ compensation fee schedule barred from recovering the balance of their bill? However, for you, it is clear that added PIP benefits give you another tool to potentially reduce your medical bills from a car wreck, thereby increasing the total amount you may recover from your personal injury claim. As I said, it is complicated, and this is why I think you need to be represented by a Kentucky injury lawyer who has extensive experience in handling car accident cases.