One of the largest health insurance companies in the US has backed off a controversial new plan to place limits on the amount of time it covers for anesthesia while patients are under the knife after a fierce public outcry.

Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield — which represents policyholders in New York, Connecticut and Missouri — announced last month that it would deny claims in which a patient was kept under anesthesia longer than the time it determined was necessary, depending on the procedure, in a shocking move physicians called “unprecedented.”

But the company quickly reversed course once news of the plan went viral Thursday following the cold-blooded assassination of a rival company’s CEO in New York City. 

“There has been significant widespread misinformation about an update to our anesthesia policy. As a result, we have decided to not proceed with this policy change,” Anthem wrote in a statement to The Post.

“To be clear, it never was and never will be the policy of Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield to not pay for medically necessary anesthesia services,” the statement continued.

The original company press release announcing the change published last month had said, starting in February, “We will utilize the CMS Physician Work Time values to target the number of minutes reported for anesthesia services. Claims submitted with reported time above the established number of minutes will be denied.”

The Nov. 1 announcement drew renewed interest following Wednesday’s murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, as new evidence suggests the shooter may have been motivated by animosity against the health insurance company.

Taylor Lorenz, an ex-New York Times and Washington Post journalist, posted a meme showing the CEO of Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield with her birth date and dash — an image many took to be a threat against the executive.

The American Society of Anesthesiologists — a nearly 120-year-old organization representing 59,000 members — accused the insurance giant of putting “profits over patients,” and had swiftly called upon the insurance giant to change its mind.

“Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield … unilaterally declared it will no longer pay for anesthesia care if the surgery or procedure goes beyond an arbitrary time limit, regardless of how long the surgical procedure takes,” the organization said in a press release.

“With this new policy, Anthem will not pay anesthesiologists for delivering safe and effective anesthesia care to patients who may need extra attention because their surgery is difficult, unusual or because a complication arises.”

Whereas medical services are typically charged on a per-procedure or per-appointment basis, anesthesiologists’ work is billed based on the exact amount of time a patient is under their care, which is carefully calibrated based on their exact medical needs, the ASA insists.

In a parting shot, the organization noted that Anthem Health “reported a 24.12% increase in its year-over-year net income to $2.3 billion and a 24.29% increase in its year-over-year net profit margin.”

Gov. Kathy Hochul, who had criticized Anthem for the proposed policy shift, said the reversal came about after her office contacted the insurer.

“Last night, I shared my outrage at a plan from Anthem to strip away coverage from New Yorkers who had to go under anesthesia for surgery. We pushed Anthem to reverse course and today they will be announcing a full reversal of this misguided policy,” the governor said on X.

 “Don’t mess with the health and well-being of New Yorkers — not on my watch.”

The lone exclusions Anthem had carved out for its draconian new policy were patients under 22 years of age or for anesthesia administered during maternity-related care.

According to the company website, Anthem has nearly 6 million members in this area, including 4.8 million in New York and 1.1 million in Connecticut.