Georgia official suggests extra tax for trauma services

Georgia Insurance Commissioner John Oxendine said he is considering the addition of fees on car and other forms of insurance to support trauma care services for car accident victims and others. Speaking at an Atlanta forum on trauma care in Georgia, Oxendine said the state was in desperate need of more trauma care services, and that other proposals to prop up the troubled system have fallen flat. Georgia has only 15 hospitals that specialize in trauma care, and many are losing millions of dollars providing the service. State researchers say 700 people die annually because of Georgia's spotty trauma coverage.