Anthem’s policy of refusing to pay on nonemergent visits to the emergency room (after the fact, at their discretion) has moved the Medical Association of Georgia and the American College of Emergency Physicians to file a lawsuit in U.S. district court. The two groups hope to get the court to compel Anthem and subsidiary Blue Cross Blue Shield of Georgia to abandon the policy, which is intended to discourage patients from going to the emergency room, where even simple complaints can lead to astronomical bills, for relatively minor issues. Though the policy could have the benefit of directing more patients to urgent care centers, where they’d receive timely and cost-effective care for many of the presenting complaints, Anthem has faced an avalanche of criticism by national and regional medical groups since the policy in various states was announced toward the end of 2017. Its critics say it unfairly forces patients to self-diagnose and could result in some patients not getting the care they need.