By Ariel Hart 

 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

1/19/2019

Thousands of Georgia Obamacare customers who just signed up for 2019 coverage with the state’s biggest health insurance company are getting a surprise.

The Wellstar health care network of nearly a dozen hospitals, three health parks, 10 urgent care clinics and untold doctors will no longer be covered for individual policyholders as of Feb. 4, as the two companies are letting that contract expire rather than agree on a new one.

That leaves those customers of the insurance company — Anthem, formerly called Blue Cross Blue Shield of Georgia — to either avoid the Wellstar providers that dominate northwest metro Atlanta or pay colossal out-of-network costs.

The news is one more instance of customers bearing the brunt of skyrocketing medical costs and the industry’s disagreements on how to handle them.

To Read More