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Month: August 2015

Medicaid celebrates 50 years!

Over the past 50 years, Medicaid has ensured that our family members, friends, and neighbors have the quality health care they need. Be it our seniors accessing long term care services, kids seeing a doctor, or people with disabilities living independently, millions of people are better off because of this critical program.

Medicaid has also shown itself to be an effective and cost-efficient program. Administrative costs are substantially lower than private insurance and because people using Medicaid have access to preventive services, small issues can be addressed before they end up as big, costly illnesses.

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Children in particular benefit from Medicaid. Studies show that kids with coverage show up at school ready to learn, are more likely to graduate from college, and end up with more earning potential as adults. In fact, more than 1 million Georgia children (about 35% of kids in our state) currently get their health care coverage through Medicaid.

As we reflect on what Medicaid has meant for children and families here in Georgia, it has been nothing short of transformative. And while about 1.9 million Georgians overall benefit from the essential health care access that Medicaid provides, approximately 300,000 Georgians are still stuck in a coverage gap: they don’t qualify for Medicaid under its existing stringent standards, aren’t offered coverage at work, and earn too little to qualify for tax credits through the Health Insurance Marketplace. The majority of states have accepted federal funding to close this gap, but Georgia hasn’t yet taken that step. Closing this gap and extending Medicaid coverage to all low-income Georgians would be a powerful tool for improving the health of individuals and families throughout our state.

catalyst3finalAt Georgians for a Healthy Future we are proud to advocate for the Medicaid program that has been proven to improve health and saves lives. For the millions of Americans, and many Georgians, whose quality of life has been improved because of Medicaid, we’re so happy to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the life-changing program.

 

More about Medicaid in Georgia!


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GHF’s Executive Director named to study committee!

Cindy Zeldin has been appointed by Lt Governor Casey Cagle for a study committee for SR 561, the Consumer and Provider Protection Act.

CindyZeldin_Headshot - CopyGeorgians for a Healthy Future is proud to announce the appointment of our Executive Director Cindy Zeldin to the Consumer and Provider Protection Act Senate Study Committee (SR 561).

This study committee will consider a number of issues pertaining to consumer protections for health care consumers. One of the issues that is top of mind for GHF is the question of whether the provider networks that health plans have assembled are adequate to ensure that consumers have meaningful and timely access to all covered benefits. Known as network adequacy, this issue has become a hot topic over the past year. We look forward to working with the other study committee appointees to identify constructive policy approaches to ensure that Georgia health care consumers have meaningful and timely access to care, and we will keep you updated as the work of the committee progresses.

What is network adequacy?

Other members of the study committee:

Senator Dean Burke
Senator Renee Unterman
Senator Charlie Bethel
Senator Burt Jones
Manoj Shah, M.D.
Richard Smith, DDS
Mr. John Crew
Ms. Angela Waller
Ms. Cindy Zeldin
Mr. Richard Novak

 


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