Apr 1, 2024 Georgia has so far dropped hundreds of thousands of people from Medicaid, mostly for administrative reasons such as problems with renewal application paperwork. The cutoffs are stacking up as the state continues reevaluating everyone’s Medicaid eligibility with coverage after the end of federal COVID-19 public health emergency rules last spring. The nationwide process is known as “Medicaid redetermination” or “Medicaid unwinding.” Now, to stay covered, everyone in the program has to reapply. In Georgia, that’s nearly 2.8 million adults, as well as children with PeachCare for Kids. “A lot of them are just not sure what that means,” said Deanna Williams, an enrollment assister at the nonprofit Georgians for a Healthy Future. She said many of her clients are surprised to learn their coverage is suspended. “It’s typically they’re finding out when they’re either going to a pharmacy or going to a doctor’s office and they’re having that visit,” she said. “For them, that means they may be without medication for a week or two, or sometimes a month, depending on how long this process is. So it’s hard to get those calls. I try to take the extra step to see how we can help them during that process and waiting period. That’s how I try to help my clients through it.”

Mar 21, 2024

Democratic state lawmakers say they’ll continue fighting to expand Medicaid in Georgia after a majority Republican committee rejected the latest proposal for expansion with a week left in the General Assembly’s legislative session.

The vote followed almost two hours of Senate committee debate on a House bill, the Peach Care Plus Act of 2024…Laura Colbert, executive director at the nonpartisan policy group Georgians for a Healthy Future, spoke before the committee in favor of Peach Care Plus. “Unexpected medical situations can be a big hit, you know, for some of us we can handle an unexpected $500 or $800 medical bill, but these are folks making $20,000 a year. And so that’s a really big hit,” Colbert said.

 

Mar 20, 2024

ATLANTA – A plan by state Senate Democrats and some Republicans to fully expand Medicaid coverage in Georgia was shot down Thursday by the narrowest margin – a tie vote in a Senate committee.

Sen. David Lucas, D-Macon, working with Sen. Matt Brass, R-Newnan, brought a proposal to expand Georgia’s Medicaid program through a waiver the state would seek from the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services…“It would be a massive reduction in how many uninsured Georgians we have,” added Laura Colbert, executive director of Georgians for a Healthy Future, a nonprofit that has long supported Medicaid expansion.

Mar 20, 2024

Georgia Pathways to Coverage program has had a rocky start, but state Republican leaders have put off considering a full Medicaid expansion.

Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp’s plan for a conservative alternative to Obamacare’s Medicaid expansion has cost taxpayers at least $26 million so far, with more than 90% going toward administrative and consulting costs rather than medical care for low-income people…” Typically, in Medicaid, administrative costs range from 12% to 16% of overall program spending,” said Laura Colbert, executive director of the advocacy group Georgians for a Healthy Future, which supports full Medicaid expansion. “It’s reasonable to expect that at least 80% of costs of a public or private health insurance plan to go toward health care and services,” she said.

 

Feb 23, 2024

A long-awaited health care proposal from House leaders would ease health care business regulations in some cases, but the measure is just as notable for what it does not do: expand Medicaid.

Instead, the bill calls for a new commission that would be tasked with advising the governor, lawmakers and the state agency that administers Georgia’s Medicaid program on issues related to the access and quality of health care available for the state’s high number of uninsured residents….“There is still time for lawmakers to act on this issue – rather than agree to study it – before Sine Die,” said Laura Colbert, executive director of Georgians for a Healthy Future. “Instead of spending another year for a committee to tell us what we already know, lawmakers should seize the momentum that has been built and put forward legislation that allows Georgia to close the coverage gap this year.”

 

Feb 14, 2024

According to numbers provided Monday by Georgia Department of Human Services Sec. Candice Broce, about 1.7 million people still need their cases processed…While the state has yet to break down why more than half a million Georgians have had their status terminated, health care advocates like Laura Colbert believe it’s a combination of ineligibility and clerical reasons. “Some folks often aren’t getting the notices that they need to renew their coverage” said Colbert.

 

Jan 17, 2024

Georgia ranks third in the nation for hospital closures. Since 2010, Georgians for a Healthy Future reports nine rural hospitals have closed in Georgia, leaving 26% of Georgians without critical services.

Jan 13, 2024

Laura Colbert, executive director of Georgians for a Healthy Future, which advocates for Medicaid expansion, had this message for those who attended the organization’s Health Care Unscrambled event held Thursday: “I’m not going to count our chickens before they hatch – we don’t have expansion yet – but it’s coming.”

Jan 12, 2024

During a recent event hosted by health care advocacy group Georgian’s for a Healthy Future, Republican State Rep. Sharon Cooper pointed to a Senate subcommittee recommendation to repeal hospital certificate of need laws in exchange for expanding Medicaid.

“Legislators don’t like to be told and the governors especially that. you know, ‘We’ll do this if you do this,’” Cooper said.

Jan 12, 2024

The biggest obstacle is Georgia Pathways, the state’s limited Medicaid expansion that includes the nation’s only work requirement for Medicaid recipients, said Laura Colbert, executive director of the advocacy group Georgians for a Healthy Future.

Republican Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp has championed the program, which launched in July. Though it is off to a rocky start, with just under 2,350 people enrolled as of mid-December, the Kemp administration has sought to extend it past its September 2025 expiration date.

“Governor Kemp has put a lot of political capital into Pathways,” Colbert said.

Colbert said she was optimistic that Georgia lawmakers would eventually approve a fuller expansion of coverage for low-income adults, but not necessarily this year.