A plaintiff whose medical bills are paid by his insurer cannot introduce the full amount billed by the medical provider since he can recover only the amount paid by the insurer. An uninsured plaintiff, however, may introduce the medical bills since he is entitled to recover the reasonable value of the medical services he received and the bills are evidence of that value. Here, plaintiff was insured but chose out-of-plan doctors for his care and so was liable for the full amount they billed. For that reason, plaintiff, though insured, was properly allowed to introduce the bills he received from medical providers as proof of his damages. The jury could and did believe plaintiff’s doctor rather than defendant’s expert who testified that 95% of patients pay less than the billed amount.
California Court of Appeal, Second District, Division 6 (Perren, J.); May 8, 2018; 2018 Cal. App. LEXIS 409