What the insurance company does not want you to know is that future medical care and lost earning power can be worth far more than the first stack of ER bills.

What should have happened: right after the crash, the claim should have started collecting proof of every loss tied to the injury - the Frederick Police Department or Maryland State Police report, ER records, imaging, follow-up visits, wage records, and photos from the scene. That matters a lot after a Memorial Day or July 4th crash on Route 40, Market Street, or US 15, where insurers often try to blame the pedestrian and pay as little as possible. In Maryland, that blame argument is especially dangerous because contributory negligence can wipe out recovery if they prove you were even partly at fault.

What to do now: get your doctors to spell out what the next months and years look like. For a serious leg, back, or brain injury, that can mean:

• future surgeries, injections, PT, medication, and counseling
• reduced earning capacity if you cannot return to warehouse, retail, trades, delivery, or federal-contractor work
• any permanent impairment or disability rating

Maryland does not use a fixed payout chart for pedestrian injury claims. A case with a few thousand dollars in treatment is one thing; a case involving surgery, chronic pain, and limits on work can move into the tens of thousands or much more. If you are young, the future wage-loss piece can be large because the injury may affect years of work ahead.

What comes next: the insurer will usually wait until your condition stabilizes enough to estimate future costs. That is when settlement value gets clearer. If they ignore future care, the number is low - simple as that. In Maryland, you generally have 3 years from the crash date to file a personal injury lawsuit, so the clock is running even while treatment continues.