GHF releases illustrated book to help state leaders understand the health and health care issues facing Georgians
Every person who calls Georgia home deserves to live healthy and thrive. While Georgia has made recent strides to improve the health of our residents, we haven’t yet reached that goal according to Georgians themselves and our state’s health data.
To help state and community leaders make effective and informed decisions about the health and well-being of Georgians, Georgians for a Healthy Future created the illustrated What the health, Georgia guide. This publication is intended to be a reference that decision makers can go back to again and again as they consider new health laws and policies and determine how to invest public funds in health care and public health.
Last year, Georgians for a Healthy Future partnered with the Altarum Healthcare Value Hub to release the results of the CHESS. The Georgia CHESS is a poll of over one thousand Georgians about their health care experiences and concerns. Overall, the survey found that most Georgians struggle to afford their health care and worry about their ability to afford care in the future. They also support strong government interventions to address health care costs and improve affordability.
A page from What the Health, Georgia? illustrated guide
Learnings from the survey are distilled into policy recommendations that leaders may consider as they work to improve health care and costs for Georgians. The policy recommendations are organized so that policymakers can easily identify which solutions may be easiest to enact and encourage swift action.
The publication concludes with brief overviews of mental health outcomes and services in Georgia and the building blocks of health (also known as the social determinants of health). We included these sections as a reminder to leaders that health encompasses more than just physical health.
We hope state and community leaders and advocates find What the health, Georgia to be a useful resource. We invite further discussion and feedback on this illustrated guide, the CHESS survey results, and policy recommendations. Please reach out to GHF’s Health Policy Analyst, Whitney Griggs, if you have feedback or questions.
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