Auto Insurance Claims: insurance settlement, medical insurance company, health insurer

Question
Not sure how this should be handled so I’m trying to seek some advise.  Was involved in a car accident a year ago.  During that time I gave the hospital/doctors and therapy my aetna information for medical coverage.  The accident was the other parties fault.  I have never been in a
severe car accident before where I have sustained injuries and had to seek medical care and was not sure what to do.  After discussing obtaining an attorney or not I decided to work with the other person’s insurance on my own.  We’ve now come to an agreement.  My question is
pertaining to what happens now.  The insurance adjuster mentioned that
there not being any ‘liens’ on me and it appears aetna paid a lot of
the expense.  Do I contact Aetna and discuss re-payment since there is a
settlement that includes medical expense or should the insurance
adjuster do this?  From what I’ve gathered in coversations with the
adjuster he mentioned that he was not in contact with anyone from aetna.  
How will they know exactly what was related to the accident and what was
routine medical?  Should I provide them detailed information?  If so,
is there a time frame in which I need to do this?   I don’t know what
the right thing would be.  I have spoken to a couple of friends who
have had similar situations but they never notified the insurance company
and I’m not sure if that’s the proper thing to do.  I recently
moved to Georgia…


Answer
Hi Paula,

When you use your own medical insurance to pay for accident related medical costs, the medical insurance company is entitled to be reimbursed from the proceeds of any settlement you make.  It is possible that your health insurer does not realize that these expenses are related to an auto accident. However, at some point in the future they may do an audit and discover this is so.  In that case they may demand reimbursement from you.

It would be a good idea to contact you medical insurance company and ask them for the correct procedure so that you hill not be hit with any surprises 2 years down the road.

I hope this helps
Richard Hixenbaugh