Insurance adjusters use the amount of medical bills and loss of earnings as a benchmark to make an offer for pain and suffering damages. They usually offer ½ to 1 times your economic damages (medical bills and loss of income) to compensate for your pain and suffering. For example, if your medical bills and loss of income equal $10,000, the insurance company will try to offer up to $5,000-$10,000 for your pain and suffering. If you try to settle your claim early, they usually will attempt to settle your pain and suffering damages for a few hundred dollars. This is not an appropriate way to determine the value of your personal injury claim. They plug your medical bills amount into a software, which gives them a value for your pain and suffering. Their software doesn’t fully take into account all of the factors of your pain and suffering values and shortchanges your pain and suffering value.