As of July 1, 2003 Colorado converted from having a no-fault auto insurance system into having a Tort system. This means that Personal Injury Protection (PIP) is no longer required. Instead the CO state law requires you to purchase bodily injury liability coverage of at least $25,000 per person, $50,000 per accident, and $15,000 in property damage.

Bodily injury and property damage coverages (liability coverages) can be purchased as split limit coverage or as combined single limit coverage. The minimum limits of liability required by Colorado law are the 25/50/15 mentioned above. If you choose to purchase the coverage as a combined single limit, the minimum allowable is $65,000 under Colorado law.

You are not required to carry medical payments or uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage, but all insurance companies are required to offer uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage in an amount equal to your bodily injury coverage or one hundred thousand dollars per person and three hundred thousand dollars per accident, whichever is less.

Colorado's legal and financial responsibility is now based upon the law of negligence. A negligent act which causes damage or injury is legally known as a tort. If an accident is your fault, that is, you are negligent; you are responsible for bodily injury and property damages suffered by the innocent party.

If you are the cause of an accident in which other people are injured, this insurance protects you against their claims for damages such as medical expenses, lost wages, and pain and suffering. The medical bills that insurance companies pay are what they consider to be reasonable and necessary medical expenses.

It is not typically the tort system that limits the type of medical care that a person can receive (and be reimbursed for); it is the terms of the motorist's insurance policy that is paying for medical expenses. Insurance companies can differ in their definition of what medical car is reasonable and necessary.

So if a person needs your medical attention due to a car accident, they will need to check with the insurer that is paying for their medical expenses to find out if massage therapy would be covered by the at-fault party's bodily injury policy.