Blue Cross in Georgia to limit emergency room coverage

The Obamacare exchange may survive next year in rural Georgia. But patients who depend on its last remaining insurer are now learning there’s a catch.

Over the past week letters have arrived at homes throughout the state giving patients a jolt. Blue Cross Blue Shield of Georgia, the only insurer on the exchange for 96 of the state’s 159 counties, is telling patients with individual policies that if they go to the emergency room and it’s not an emergency, they’ll be stuck with the bill.

“I am very concerned,” said Dr. Matthew Keadey, who leads an organization of ER doctors. He fears patients who need the ER but aren’t sure they do will avoid it now. “If this is fully implemented, I think we’re going to have deaths out there because of it.”Read more