No. And that mistake can cost you money fast. For 2025, Medicare Part B premiums and cost-sharing went up again, which matters because Medicare is usually a secondary payer when a driver, auto insurer, or other liability insurer should pay for crash injuries.

What should have happened right away: after an Everett crosswalk crash, the driver's information, photos of the crosswalk, lane shifts, cones, flaggers, truck markings, and witness names should have been collected. A police report should have been made through Everett Police Department or, on certain state routes, Washington State Patrol. If it was a construction-zone truck, the employer and insurer should have been identified too.

Providers also should have been told this was an auto-related pedestrian injury. If you have access to Personal Injury Protection (PIP) through your own auto policy or a household member's Washington policy, that may apply even though you were walking.

What to do now: call every doctor, clinic, ambulance service, and hospital billing office and tell them there is a third-party auto claim. Ask whether they billed Medicare conditionally or billed the wrong payer. Then open claims with:

• the driver's insurer,
• any company vehicle insurer,
• your own or household auto insurer for PIP or uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage.

Get the collision report number. Keep every bill, Explanation of Benefits, prescription receipt, and mileage log.

What comes next: Medicare may make conditional payments so treatment is not delayed, but it can demand reimbursement from a settlement later. Do not assume an insurer's first offer accounts for that. Washington also follows pure comparative fault, so insurers may try to blame you for crossing during confusing road-work lane shifts. That can reduce payment, not automatically kill the claim.

The general Washington deadline for a personal injury lawsuit is 3 years. If unsafe road design, missing signs, or a city work zone contributed, a government claim may require a formal notice and a 60-day wait before suing.