For first time in decades, no individual Blue Cross in Atlanta

Blue Cross Blue Shield of Georgia, owned by parent company Anthem, plans to drop individual health insurance next year in 74 Georgia counties including metro Atlanta. (Photo by David McNew/Getty Images)

Blue Cross Blue Shield of Georgia, owned by parent company Anthem, plans to drop individual health insurance next year in 74 Georgia counties including metro Atlanta. (Photo by David McNew/Getty Images)

For the first time in decades, in 2018 Blue Cross Blue Shield of Georgia won’t offer individual health care insurance plans in metro Atlanta, the company announced Monday.

“Unfortunately, continued regulatory uncertainty at the Federal level and the current state of instability in the individual market have necessitated that we consider discontinuance of certain of our current offerings,” Jeff Fusile, the president of Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Georgia, wrote in a letter to the state explaining the move.

Health care policy in Washington has careened in recent months from one proposal to another, and the uncertainty continued even up to this past weekend. Insurers are concerned over whether the Trump administration will continue funding subsidies that help make the Obamacare exchange markets work; the administration has threatened them but not yet cut them off.

Blue Cross said the move applied to both Obamacare exchange plans and individual plans that are not on the exchange. Watch the AJC for more updates.