Blue Cross Blue Shield & Dialysis Transportation in Georgia

In Georgia, "the Blue" means Anthem

Blue Cross Blue Shield is a federation of independent licensees, and each state has its own. In Georgia that licensee is Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Georgia. This matters more than it sounds like it should: coverage rules, provider networks, and authorization processes are set at the state-plan level, so guidance written for a Blue plan in another state may not describe yours at all. If you moved here with a Blue card from elsewhere, or you have BlueCard coverage through an out-of-state employer, mention that on your first call — the routing is different.

Heart2Heart Medical Transport is an independent transportation provider and is not affiliated with or endorsed by Blue Cross Blue Shield, Anthem, or the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association.

Read your Evidence of Coverage — specifically these parts

Every BCBS plan issues an Evidence of Coverage or a Summary Plan Description, and it is the document that actually decides this question. Members are often told conflicting things over the phone; the written benefit governs. Pull up the PDF from your member portal and search for "transportation." Then work through the checklist below.

• Whether non-emergency medical transportation appears as a covered benefit at all, and whether dialysis is named as an approved destination.
• Whether your plan is an HMO or a PPO. HMO plans typically restrict you to in-network providers and referrals, while PPO plans usually allow out-of-network care at a different cost share — that distinction can decide whether an outside transportation provider is usable.
• Heart2Heart bills insurance for medically necessary transports such as dialysis, wound care and emergency-department related trips. Coverage depends on the patient's plan and is never guaranteed, and we do not bill Medicaid. Rides booked and paid for directly on this website are paid by card at booking.
• Any limits expressed as trips per year, miles per trip, or vehicle type — a plan may treat a wheelchair van and a stretcher van as different benefits.
• Your cost share for the benefit: copay per trip, coinsurance percentage, and whether it applies before or after the deductible.
• Exclusions. Transportation exclusions are frequently listed separately from the transportation benefit itself, several pages away.

Commercial versus Medicare Advantage under the same brand

Anthem BCBS of Georgia sells both commercial coverage — employer group and individual marketplace plans — and Medicare Advantage plans. They behave differently. Commercial plans define non-emergency transportation in the plan document, and for dialysis patients it is sometimes covered because the treatment schedule is medically fixed rather than optional. Medicare Advantage plans may instead include transportation as a supplemental benefit layered on top of what Original Medicare provides, often with a specific trip allotment and sometimes tied to a contracted vendor.

Neither is a guarantee. Two Anthem members in the same neighborhood can have opposite answers, which is why every statement on this page is framed as "may" and why we verify before we schedule rather than after.

The path from your first call to a standing schedule

For Blue members the process below is the one we run, and it is deliberately front-loaded so nothing surprising shows up on a bill later.

Medicaid products carrying a Blue name

Georgia's Medicaid managed-care plans are sold under brand names including Amerigroup, Peach State Health Plan, and CareSource. Heart2Heart does not accept Medicaid under any circumstances, whatever brand appears on the card. Medicaid members arrange non-emergency transportation through the state's regional NEMT broker, and that remains the correct path for them.

Heart2Heart bills insurance for medically necessary transports such as dialysis, wound care and emergency-department related trips. Coverage depends on the patient's plan and is never guaranteed, and we do not bill Medicaid. Every other transport we run — discharges, specialist visits, family events — is private pay for BCBS members exactly as it is for everyone else.