What Is Medical Payments (MedPay) Car Insurance?

Medical payments (MedPay) is a first-party auto insurance coverage that helps pay for medical treatment for you and your passengers after a covered crash, regardless of who was at fault. It is a narrower product than personal injury protection (PIP) and sits alongside your health insurance rather than replacing it. Whether MedPay is available, required, or restricted where you live is a state question, not a national one.

Whose loss?

You and your passengers (subject to policy terms), regardless of who caused the crash

Legally required

Depends on the state; required in a few, optional in many, and restricted in states that require or offer PIP instead⁴

What it can pay for

Medical, hospital, ambulance, X-ray, dental, prostheses and (often) funeral expenses after a covered crash⁴⁵

Applied per person

The MedPay limit shown on your declarations page is typically the maximum per injured person on a covered claim⁵

What MedPay can pay for

MedPay is a first-party medical coverage on your auto policy. It responds to medical bills that follow a covered crash, regardless of who caused it. The specific benefit list varies by insurer and state, but the categories that commonly appear on a MedPay endorsement are described in publisher summaries as follows⁴⁵.

Categories MedPay commonly pays for

Medical treatment. Reasonable and necessary medical treatment (doctor visits, ER care, hospital stays, surgery, nursing care) following a covered crash⁵.
Ambulance and EMT. Emergency transportation fees are commonly included⁵.
Diagnostic services. X-rays, MRIs and related imaging when medically necessary⁵.
Dental services and prostheses. Necessary dental treatment and prostheses are commonly listed⁵.
Funeral expenses. A funeral benefit up to a stated amount is included on many MedPay endorsements⁵.
Health-plan cost sharing. Publisher summaries describe MedPay being used toward health-insurance deductibles and copayments connected to crash-related care⁵.

What MedPay generally does not do

Replace lost wages. Publisher summaries note that MedPay does not typically reimburse lost wages⁴. Where that category is important, PIP (in states that offer the broader form) or disability coverage does the work.
Pay for essential services. MedPay does not typically pay for child care, household services or similar essential-services costs that some PIP endorsements include⁴.
Cover the other driver's medical. Injuries to another driver are handled by that driver's own coverage or by your bodily injury liability if you were at fault. Not by your MedPay⁵.
Replace health insurance. MedPay is a narrow, crash-specific first-party medical coverage.
Pay above the MedPay limit. The MedPay per-person limit on your declarations page is the ceiling for each injured person⁵.

The declarations page and MedPay endorsement on your policy control what is actually covered on your policy. Two states can describe MedPay meaningfully differently.

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Who can potentially be covered

MedPay is typically written to respond for the named insured, listed family members, and passengers in the insured vehicle after a covered crash, regardless of fault⁵. Publisher summaries also describe MedPay applying if the named insured is hit as a pedestrian or is injured while riding in someone else's vehicle, subject to the specific policy wording⁵.

The important operational point about who is covered: MedPay limits are typically applied per injured person, not per accident⁵. Multiple people injured in the same covered crash can each draw up to the per-person MedPay limit, subject to the policy's terms.

MedPay vs. PIP

MedPay and personal injury protection (PIP) are both first-party medical coverages on an auto policy. Where a state offers both, a shopper usually has to choose which one, or which combination, fits⁴. Some states restrict a consumer from carrying both simultaneously; publisher summaries at audit identify Minnesota, New York, North Dakota and Oregon as examples of states with such restrictions, but state statutes and regulator actions change, and the current rule for your state lives with your state department of insurance⁴.

	MedPay	PIP
Scope	Medical (and often funeral) expenses only⁵	Medical expenses and, in states that offer the broader form, lost wages, essential services and related benefits
Regardless of fault?	Yes⁵	Yes
Deductible	Usually no deductible	Available on some state versions of PIP; absent on others
Availability	State-specific⁴	State-specific
Can I carry both?	Depends on your state; publisher summaries at audit note several states restrict carrying both simultaneously⁴

For the mechanics of PIP itself, see our PIP coverage guide.

MedPay vs. bodily injury liability

The two coverages face opposite directions.

MedPay pays you, your listed family members, and passengers in the insured vehicle for medical (and often funeral) expenses after a covered crash, regardless of fault⁵.
Bodily injury liability pays other people for injuries you cause when you are at fault, up to your policy limits. See our liability coverage guide for how that side works.

MedPay vs. health insurance

Health insurance covers medical treatment generally, through its own network, copay, and deductible rules. MedPay is auto-policy coverage tied to a crash, and it typically responds to medical bills related to that crash regardless of fault. The two products can both respond to the same care under coordination-of-benefits rules that vary by state and by policy.

Publisher summaries describe two common practical uses of MedPay alongside health insurance: covering crash-related medical costs that fall inside a health plan's deductible or copay stack, and covering passengers who are not on your health insurance at all⁵.

MedPay vs. UM/UIM bodily injury

Uninsured and underinsured motorist bodily injury pay you when the at-fault driver has no coverage or not enough. MedPay does not require anyone to be at fault and does not require an uninsured or underinsured driver to trigger; it responds to a covered crash regardless of the other driver's coverage. In practice, the two coverages can respond to the same claim under different conditions. See our UM/UIM coverage guide.

Is MedPay required in your state?

State rules on MedPay vary substantially. Publisher summaries at audit describe the current landscape as follows, but state statutes and regulator actions change and the source of truth for your state is your state department of insurance⁴.

Required. A small number of states require MedPay on every personal auto policy; publisher summaries identify Maine, New Hampshire and Pennsylvania as examples at audit⁴.
Restricted alongside PIP. Some states restrict a consumer from carrying both MedPay and PIP on the same policy; publisher summaries identify Minnesota, New York, North Dakota and Oregon as examples at audit⁴.
Optional. In most states that offer MedPay, it is available as an optional add-on rather than a required coverage⁴.
Not offered. A handful of states rely on PIP as the first-party medical coverage and do not offer MedPay in the standard form.

Because state statutes vary and change, this page does not attempt to list every state's current MedPay rule. See our state guides for the requirements where you live.

Limits and deductibles

MedPay is typically written without a deductible and is applied per injured person up to the per-person limit shown on your declarations page⁵. Publisher summaries at audit describe common MedPay per-person limit options in the $500, $1,000, $2,500 and $5,000 range on many personal auto policies⁵, though higher limits are available from some insurers and specific offerings vary by carrier and state.

YesWeSure Decision Check

Should you carry MedPay?

MedPay sits at the intersection of a state/policy rule and a personal-fit question. Answer the state/policy question first, then work the personal-fit question on its own.

Your state / policy rule≠The MedPay that fits your household

Question 1, the state/policy rule: what does your state allow or require?

Look up the current rule. Use your state insurance department. Confirm whether MedPay is required, whether it is offered, and whether a combination of MedPay and PIP is allowed on the same policy in your state⁴.
Confirm the offered limits. Publisher summaries describe common MedPay per-person limit options ($500, $1,000, $2,500, $5,000) on many policies⁵.
Treat this as a compliance answer, not a planning answer.

Question 2, the personal-fit answer: what level of MedPay fits your household?

Consider your health insurance stack. A high-deductible health plan or a narrow network can make MedPay dollars more useful for crash-related care.
Consider your passengers. MedPay typically responds for passengers in the insured vehicle regardless of whether they are on your health insurance⁵.
Consider PIP availability. In states that offer PIP, PIP's broader benefit categories may make PIP the bigger lever and MedPay a smaller supplemental layer. See our PIP coverage guide.
Consider your UM/UIM bodily injury tier. MedPay is not a substitute for a well-chosen UM/UIM tier.
Test the incremental cost. Get quotes at more than one MedPay tier so the marginal premium is a concrete number.

This is a reasoning framework, not personalized medical, legal or financial advice.

Common questions

Is MedPay required?

It depends on your state. Publisher summaries at audit identify Maine, New Hampshire and Pennsylvania as examples of states that require MedPay; most other states that offer MedPay make it optional⁴.

Can I have both PIP and MedPay?

Sometimes yes, sometimes no. Publisher summaries at audit describe several states restricting a consumer from carrying both simultaneously, including Minnesota, New York, North Dakota and Oregon as examples⁴.

Does MedPay cover my passengers?

Publisher summaries describe MedPay as commonly applying to the named insured, listed family members, and passengers in the insured vehicle after a covered crash, regardless of fault⁵.

Do I need MedPay if I have health insurance?

Health insurance and MedPay can both respond to crash-related medical costs, but they are not interchangeable. MedPay can also cover passengers who are not on your health insurance⁵.

Does MedPay have a deductible?

MedPay is typically written without a deductible⁵.

How is MedPay different from bodily injury liability?

MedPay pays your household's and passengers' medical bills after a covered crash regardless of fault. Bodily injury liability pays other people when you are at fault, up to your policy limits.

Does MedPay cover lost wages?

Publisher summaries note that MedPay does not typically reimburse lost wages⁴. Where lost wages matter, PIP (in states that offer the broader form) or a disability product is the more common lever.

Will filing a MedPay claim raise my rate?

Insurer treatment of MedPay claims varies by carrier and state. There is no universal answer; ask your insurer how they treat MedPay claims in your state before you file.

Sources and methodology

NAIC: Auto Insurance consumer guidance (National Association of Insurance Commissioners)
NAIC: What Does Auto Insurance Cover? (National Association of Insurance Commissioners)
Triple-I: Auto insurance basics, understanding your coverage (Insurance Information Institute)
NerdWallet: What Is Medical Payments (MedPay) Coverage? (NerdWallet)
Bankrate: MedPay in car insurance (Bankrate)

MedPay categories, the per-person limit structure, the typical passenger and household treatment, and the regardless-of-fault framing on this page reflect publisher summaries at audit alongside NAIC and Triple-I policy taxonomy. Specific state examples (Maine, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania for required MedPay; Minnesota, New York, North Dakota, Oregon for PIP/MedPay restrictions) are cited as publisher summaries at audit rather than as direct state- statute citations. Last reviewed September 29, 2026.