CHICAGO -- Consumer representatives praised state insurance regulators for urging Congress to extend the enhanced Affordable Care Act subsidies, and encouraged the regulators to keep up the pressure during a…
Blog
Thank you for coming to Health Care Unscrambled 2024!
Thank you for being a part of Georgians for a Healthy Future’s 14th annual Health Care Unscrambled! We were thrilled to have so many advocates, policy makers, health care providers, and public health professionals join us for this year’s event!
Thank you for your support!
Thank you to all of this year’s Health Care Unscrambled sponsors, individual donors, and volunteers. Your generosity advances our work towards a healthy, equitable Georgia. Thank you for investing with us and the future we are building together!
Thank you also to the filmmakers and team behind “The Only Doctors” documentary for allowing us to feature part of your film during this year’s program.
Thank you to all HCU speakers and panelists!
This year’s Health Care Unscrambled program was a big success! If you’d like to watch it again or missed the event, the recording is available here on our YouTube channel.
After kicking off the program with a consumer story from The Only Doctor documentary, we were joined by an accomplished panel of state legislators. Senators Sonya Halpern, Ben Watson, and Rep. Sharon Cooper discussed some of the most pressing issues that are likely to be considered during this year’s legislative session.
Rep. Cooper spoke about how changes to Certificate of Need (CON) (how hospitals and other health facilities are regulated) will be a major issue in both the Senate and the House. Sen. Watson described a need to focus on medical education to sustain and fulfill workforce shortages. Sen. Halpern connected a shortage of Black doctors (and other providers of color) to poor maternal health here in Georgia; she also called for more waiver slots for people with developmental disabilities to help address the long waiting list in Georgia. When asked about the Medicaid unwinding, Rep. Cooper pointed out how much work the Department of Community Health has had on its plate over the last year or so: the rollout of Pathways, revalidation for providers who see Medicaid members as patients, re-bidding the contracts for Georgia’s Medicaid insurance companies, the unwinding itself.
Rep. Cooper weighed in on the House’s November hearing that addressed Georgia’s lack of Medicaid expansion. She briefly noted that an Arkansas-style Medicaid expansion is appealing to her.
All three panelists agreed that the state needs to take a closer look at maternal health. To help inform conversations about maternal health in Georgia, we are sharing the following resources:
- According to America’s Health Rankings, maternal mortality rates are more than 2x higher for Black Georgians compared to white Georgians. Hispanic women have lower rates than either white or Black Georgians. (See “View all Populations” link.)
- Coverage of and resources from the Maternal Health Symposium at Emory University in November 2023
- From the Center for Reproductive Rights: Maternal Health in Georgia
- Georgia’s Maternal Mortality Review Committee webpage and reports are available here.
- United Nations Population Fund: Maternal Health of Women and Girls of African Descent in the Americas
When asked about HB 520 – last year’s large mental health and substance use bill, Sen. Halpern reminded the audience that the House has approved a version of the bill and it now sits in the Senate Health & Human Services committee for considerations. She added that there are plans to move some of the initiatives forward even if the entirety of the bill is not passed. Workforce and licensure were both discussed as critical areas to address to continue to ensure that the state has necessary mental health and substance use recovery providers.
The legislative panel set the stage for our distinguished keynote panel: Joan Alker, Executive Director of the Center for Children and Families at Georgetown University and Alex Briscoe, Principal of the California Children’s Trust. We learned from this outstanding panel about Georgia’s Medicaid landscape and the changes that Medicaid members are experiencing right now, before diving into what changes could be made in Medicaid to boost the health and wellness of Georgia’s children and families.
Dr. Alker described the Medicaid unwinding and its disproportionate impact on children in Georgia. Conversely and in good news for Georgia kids, Dr. Alker reminded the audience that all Medicaid-covered children now benefit from 12 months’ continuous coverage! She also pointed to the financial foolishness of the new Georgia Pathways program, and the very limited number of Georgians who have been able to enroll thus far. Dr. Alker explained that she believes that all states will eventually expand Medicaid, and that Georgia is at a critical juncture to secure that policy for our state.
Mr. Briscoe noted that Medicaid covers half of the children in the country (and in Georgia), and that mental health and substance use services are critical, particularly given the strains of the pandemic. Data shows a doubling of inpatient visits for self-injury and that Medicaid is an essential tool to help address this. Dr. Briscoe described some of the Medicaid policy changes that could benefit children’s mental health care including removing diagnosis as a requisite for receiving mental health and addiction recovery services, and centering schools as an important place for delivering health care. A couple of Mr. Briscoe’s suggestions are currently included in HB 520, and others would expand the impact and benefit of Georgia’s mental health parity law for children and youth.
Both speakers helped contextualize information related to Medicaid managed care and Medicaid expansion, providing ideas and data from a national perspective to help Georgia move forward.
Missed HCU 2024 or want to share the event with others?
A recording of HCU 2024 is available on our YouTube channel here.
You can find the program, event slides, and other materials here on the HCU 2024 event webpage.
Visit GHF’s Facebook page to view photos from the event! You may see yourself among the pictures of guests, speakers, and colleagues. Check out the online HCU 2024 discussion by searching #HCU2024 on Twitter and Facebook.
Thank you again for attending!
Stay Connected
GHF In The News
Archive
- May 2024
- April 2024
- March 2024
- February 2024
- January 2024
- December 2023
- October 2023
- July 2023
- April 2023
- March 2023
- February 2023
- January 2023
- December 2022
- October 2022
- September 2022
- August 2022
- June 2022
- April 2022
- March 2022
- February 2022
- January 2022
- December 2021
- November 2021
- October 2021
- September 2021
- August 2021
- June 2021
- May 2021
- April 2021
- March 2021
- February 2021
- January 2021
- December 2020
- November 2020
- October 2020
- September 2020
- July 2020
- June 2020
- May 2020
- April 2020
- March 2020
- February 2020
- January 2020
- December 2019
- November 2019
- October 2019
- September 2019
- August 2019
- July 2019
- May 2019
- April 2019
- March 2019
- February 2019
- January 2019
- December 2018
- November 2018
- October 2018
- September 2018
- August 2018
- July 2018
- June 2018
- May 2018
- April 2018
- March 2018
- February 2018
- January 2018
- December 2017
- November 2017
- October 2017
- September 2017
- August 2017
- July 2017
- June 2017
- May 2017
- April 2017
- March 2017
- February 2017
- January 2017
- December 2016
- November 2016
- October 2016
- September 2016
- August 2016
- July 2016
- June 2016
- May 2016
- April 2016
- March 2016
- February 2016
- January 2016
- December 2015
- November 2015
- October 2015
- September 2015
- August 2015
- July 2015
- June 2015
- May 2015
- April 2015
- March 2015
- February 2015
- January 2015
- December 2014
- November 2014
- October 2014
- September 2014
- July 2014
- May 2014
- March 2014
- January 2014
- December 2013
- October 2013
- September 2013
- August 2013
- July 2013
- June 2013
- May 2013
- April 2013
- March 2013
- February 2013
- January 2013
- November 2012
- October 2012
- September 2012
- July 2012
- June 2012
- May 2012
- April 2012
- March 2012
- February 2012
- January 2012
- December 2011
- November 2011
- October 2011
- September 2011
- August 2011
- July 2011
- June 2011
- April 2011
- March 2011
- February 2011
- January 2011
- December 2010
- November 2010
- October 2010
- September 2010
- August 2010
- July 2010
- June 2010
- May 2010
- April 2010
- March 2010
- February 2010
- January 2010
- December 2009
- November 2009
- October 2009