In Virginia workers' comp, the employer can steer you to a panel doctor. In a Maryland car crash claim, the insurer usually does not get to pick your treating doctor.

The worst-case version is this: if you let the insurance company blur the line between an "independent medical exam" (IME) and actual treatment, they will use that exam to argue you were already injured, stopped healing, or don't need more care. That gets even messier for a veteran using VA treatment, because the VA system and the civilian liability claim system do not talk to each other well.

Here is the part insurers count on people not knowing: their doctor is not your doctor. The exam is usually for the claim, not for your care.

In Maryland, whether you must go depends on which claim is being made:

• For a third-party claim against the at-fault driver, you generally do not have to let their insurer manage your treatment.
• If you are claiming benefits under your own policy like PIP or UM/UIM, your policy may require a medical exam.
• If a lawsuit is filed, a defense exam usually needs to fit Maryland Rule 2-423, meaning your condition is in controversy and there is good cause.

Things go better when your treatment stays consistent and documented. If you were taken to R Adams Cowley Shock Trauma Center after a wreck on I-95, I-695, or the Capital Beltway, then followed up through the VA or a civilian specialist, that treatment trail matters more than an insurer-paid IME report.

Do not buy the myth that you must switch doctors because the insurer says so. In Maryland, they can challenge your care. They usually cannot run it. And if they are pushing an IME after a gap in treatment or delayed symptoms from a crash involving a farm truck or grain hauler, that is often a claim tactic, not a medical necessity.