6.3 Part B Medical Payments

Part B — Medical Payments Coverage is a first-party, no-fault coverage. The insurer pays reasonable expenses for necessary medical and funeral services incurred by an insured who suffers bodily injury caused by an auto accident, regardless of who was at fault. Because fault is irrelevant, Part B is the fastest-paying auto coverage — it responds even when the insured caused the accident on a snowy Mount Charleston road or a busy Las Vegas Strip intersection.

Expenses must be incurred within three years of the date of the accident. The limit is a per-person amount, commonly $1,000 to $10,000, and it applies separately to each injured insured. There is no per-accident aggregate that reduces payments across multiple injured people.

Who Is Insured Under Part B

There are two classes of insured.

The named insured and resident family members are covered as occupants of any car and even as pedestrians. A passenger who is not a family member is covered only while inside your covered auto.

Trap: A neighbor riding in your covered auto is a Part B insured; that same neighbor walking down the street and struck by a car is not covered by your Part B — only you and your family members get pedestrian protection.

Per-Person Limit — Worked Example

Assume Part B limit = $5,000 per person and an accident injures the named insured and two passengers in the insured's covered auto:

Each person draws from a separate $5,000 limit. The named insured's $2,200 excess and Passenger 2's $1,000 excess can be pursued under health insurance, Part C UM/UIM (if another driver was at fault), or against the at-fault party.

Three-Year Incurral Window — Worked Example

A Carson City insured with $10,000 Medical Payments is injured on January 15, 2024. She receives $4,000 in emergency treatment in 2024 and begins physical therapy billed in 2025 and 2026. As long as each bill for covered treatment is incurred on or before January 15, 2027 (three years from the accident), Part B remains available up to the per-person limit. Treatment first billed in February 2027 would fall outside the window and would not be covered under Part B, even if the injury was clearly accident-related.

Major Part B Exclusions

Part B does not pay for bodily injury:

• Sustained while occupying a vehicle with fewer than four wheels (motorcycles are not covered by a PAP's Part B).
• While the vehicle is used as a public or livery conveyance (carrying persons or property for a fee).
• Occurring during the course of employment when workers compensation is available.
• While occupying a vehicle without a reasonable belief of being entitled to do so (a thief or unauthorized user gets nothing).
• During racing or a speed contest on a track.
• From war, nuclear, or radioactive causes.
• While occupying a vehicle (other than your covered auto) that is owned by or furnished for the regular use of you or a family member — the owned-but-not-insured exclusion. If a household owns two cars but only lists one on the policy, Part B on the listed policy will not pay for injuries sustained in the unlisted household auto.

How Part B Coordinates With Other Coverages

Medical Payments is often excess over personal injury protection (PIP) or health insurance in practice, and policies contain anti-stacking and other-insurance provisions to prevent collecting the same medical bill twice. When an at-fault third party ultimately pays, the insurer may seek subrogation or reimbursement for what Part B advanced, depending on state law.

In no-fault states, mandatory PIP may replace or supplement Part B and can also pay lost wages and essential-services costs that pure Medical Payments does not. Nevada is not a no-fault state for auto injury — Part B remains optional first-party medical coverage, while fault-based remedies (Part A of the at-fault driver, Part C UM/UIM) handle third-party recovery.

Comparing Part B to Part A and Part C

On the Nevada P&C combo exam, remember the core distinction: Part B pays medical and funeral expenses only, regardless of fault, subject to a per-person limit and the three-year incurral rule. It does not pay wage loss (that is PIP territory) and it excludes motorcycles and livery use.