As a lawyer who handles car accident cases, I get this question a lot, so I will write a brief post on this here. Yes, your health insurance will pay for medical care incurred as a result of a car accident so long as 1) the non emergency care is in network, 2) you provide confirmation to your health insurer that you did not have Georgia medical payments insurance or it was exhausted, 3) you actually give the medical providers your health insurance information in a timely fashion. The bottom line is submit the bills to the health insurer and make sure you give the hospital your health insurance information up front or in the days following.
Will you have to reimburse your health insurance company in Georgia? Probably. The loopholes are getting smaller and smaller but it basically boils down to whether you are still insured with them and whether they are a self funded plan or not and whether the health insurance plan contains the correct wording for reimbursement.
There are three types of health insurance where we know that the client will usually be shielded by Georgia’s “made whole” law.
1. Health plans provide by the State or County; police officers, teachers etc. You are all in good shape and protected by the law.
2. Health plans you bought yourself. These plans are all insurance funded and subject to made whole.
3. Kaiser Permanente. This may not last forever but for now, their plans have the wrong plan language so they are subject to made whole.
I can tell you that the key to successful coordination of benefits for a case with serious injuries is to bring the attorney into the case in the early stages so you do not make irreversible mistakes.