The 2013 Legislative Session continues at a swift pace, with legislators in session today for day 17 of the 40-day session (the legislative calendar is available here). Here are some key health care updates:

• Yesterday, the Health Subcommittee of the House Appropriations Committee heard from the Commissioners of the state’s health-related agencies, including the Department of Community Health and the Department of Public Health, about their proposed FY 2014 budgets. Today, the subcommittee will meet again from 2 – 4pm in Room 506 CLOB to take public comment on the proposed budgets. If you would like to comment, you must sign up in advance in Room 245 of the State Capitol. The Georgia Budget & Policy Institute has released an analysis of the 2014 proposed budget for the Department of Community Health, available here.

• SB 24, which would authorize the Department of Community Health to levy a fee on hospitals to continue drawing down federal funds to support Medicaid and PeachCare for Kids, was passed by both the House and Senate and is expected to be signed into law by the Governor this morning. The current hospital fee is set to expire on June 30, 2013. The renewal of the fee is essential to ensuring Medicaid and PeachCare’s solvency and preserving access to hospital care in Georgia.

• HB 198 would require navigators to be licensed, place certain restrictions on their functions, and would give the Georgia Insurance Commissioner regulatory authority over them. Navigators are organizations or entities that apply for and receive federal grants authorized by the Affordable Care Act to provide individuals and small businesses with impartial information and assistance with enrollment in health coverage in the new health insurance marketplaces, or exchanges. While it is important that navigators are qualified to perform these functions and that there is adequate oversight to protect consumers, consumer advocates are also concerned that overly restricting navigators could have a chilling effect on the community-focused organizations whose participation in the navigator program will be critical in connecting hard-to-reach and vulnerable populations to coverage. Advocates worked with legislators to improve the bill, which passed the House Insurance Committee last week and was passed by the Rules Committee yesterday.

Last week, state agency heads presented Governor Deal’s proposed budgets for their respective agencies to the House and Senate Appropriations committees.

Access to care: the good news
Primary care providers will receive an increase in Medicaid reimbursement rates to parity with Medicare rates, funded entirely with federal dollars made available to Georgia through the Affordable Care Act. This can help preserve and strengthen access to care for Medicaid patients seeking primary care and prevention services.

Access to care: the bad news
The Department of Community Health’s proposed budget would reduce provider reimbursement rates within Medicaid by .74 percent for providers other than hospitals, primary care, FQHC, RHC, and hospice providers. This proposed rate cut, if implemented, could jeopardize access to care for Medicaid patients who require services such as dental care, obstetrics and gynecology, and oncology, among other non-primary care services.

The Department of Community Health’s proposed budget can be found here. Please contact your legislators and ask them to preserve access to care by restoring these important funds in the state budget.

Hospital fee renewal moves through the Legislature
SB 24, which would authorize the Department of Community Health to levy a fee on hospitals to continue drawing down federal funds to support Medicaid and PeachCare for Kids, has passed the State Senate and will be before the House of Representatives for a vote today. The current hospital fee is set to expire on June 30, 2013. The renewal of the fee is essential to ensuring Medicaid and PeachCare’s solvency and preserving access to hospital care in Georgia.

On Thursday, January 31st, Georgians for a Healthy Future’s Outreach and Advocacy Director Amanda Ptashkin presented at the Families USA Health Action 2013 Conference–an annual gathering of state advocates, national advocacy organizations, and health care and policy professionals that takes place in Washington DC every January. Speaking on a panel entitled “Getting to Yes on the Medicaid Expansion,” Amanda shared her thoughts on our state’s approach to health reform implementation as well as the work of the Cover Georgia coalition, aimed at getting our state to accept the federal dollars to expand coverage for thousands of Georgians.  To view her presentation, click here.   The conference goes on until Saturday, February 2nd, and includes advocates from around the country sharing their health care obstacles and successes.  Follow the conversation on twitter, #ha2013, and learn about the great work taking place across the country.

From our friends at Voices for Georgia’s Children:

As of Jan. 1, 2013, Georgia parents and legal guardians once again have the option to sign their children up for child-only health insurance policies. However, open enrollment ends two days from now on Jan. 31. Thereafter, “Child-Only” policy enrollment will be limited to special qualifying events.

Previously, child health insurance coverage in Georgia was available only through Medicaid, PeachCare for Kids ®, or as a part of parent or guardian coverage. Now, child-only policies –– for children under age 19 –– are available to parents or legal guardians who are not eligible for Medicaid or PeachCare and are uninsured, have a policy that does not offer dependent coverage, or experience an involuntary loss of coverage. Further, legal guardians who are insured by Medicare (e.g., seniors), can also purchase this type of policy. Insurers are required to offer coverage even if a child has a pre-existing condition.

Health insurance coverage has a positive effect on quality of life. The uninsured use fewer preventive and diagnostic services, are sicker when diagnosed and tend to receive less therapeutic care, like surgical interventions and medication, once diagnosed. Further, health insurance reduces mortality rates.

“Children who have health insurance have better health outcomes,” said Danté McKay, Associate Policy Director for child health at Voices for Georgia’s Children. “We are delighted that child only policies are returning to Georgia which currently ranks fourth with more than 236,000 uninsured children. Child-only policies will provide a key coverage option for reducing this number.”

Child-only policies are available from the following Georgia insurers:

• Aetna

• Blue Cross Blue Shield

• Cigna

• Coventry

• Humana

• Kaiser Permanente

• United HealthCare: 1-877-247-0209

• Child Only Services: 1-877-244-6215

Click here to read more about child-only policies

Please join us at the Capitol for “Cover Georgia Day” on Tuesday, February 19th from 9AM to 1PM. 

Cover Georgia is a coalition of consumer and patient advocates, providers, and industry stakeholders who have come together around a common goal: covering Georgia’s uninsured by expanding Medicaid.

• We will meet at 9am at Central Presbyterian Church (201 Washington Street, across from the State Capitol) for a training on the importance of health coverage and the opportunity that expanding Medicaid provides for hundreds of thousands of uninsured Georgians.
• Following the training session, we will walk across the street to the State Capitol to meet with our individual State Representatives and State Senators to ask them to support the Medicaid expansion
• At 11:30am, we will reconvene for a press conference and demonstration of support for the Medicaid expansion. We will also hear from individuals whose lives will be affected by this important decision.
• After the press conference, we will walk back over to Central Presbyterian Church to debrief and share information about our individual conversations with legislators.

Don’t miss out on this important event–please join us and make a difference. Help us Cover Georgia.  There is no cost to attend but please RSVP so we have the necessary materials on hand.

To learn more about Cover Georgia and to join the coalition efforts, go to www.coverga.org.

Georgians for a Healthy Future is proud to welcome four new board members, all of whom joined the Board of Directors this month after being elected in December. These new board members are:

• Allyson Burroughs, Vice President, Marketing, Xerox State Healthcare LLC

• Iris Feinberg, Doctoral Candidate in Health Literacy, Georgia State University

• Doug Skelton,Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs and Dean, Trinity School of Medicine

• Marci Thomas, Principal and Director of Quality Control, Metcalf-Davis

We also recognize the service of Patricia Nobbie, MedPot, Scott Mathews, and Robert Bush, all of whom left the Board of Directors at the end of 2012 after years of dedication to the mission of Georgians for a Healthy Future. Full bios for all Georgians for a Healthy Future board members can be found here.

Each year, Georgians for a Healthy Future releases A Consumer Health Advocate’s Guide to the Georgia Legislative Session to provide you with the information you need to take action! Our 2013 guide is now available and features an overview of the legislative process in Georgia; contact information for all state legislators; descriptions and listings for each legislative committee with jurisdiction over health care issues; contact information for state agencies and officials; contact information for health care organizations and associations active in Georgia; key media contacts; and tools and strategies for effective consumer health advocacy. You can either download the guide here or request a hard copy of the guide by e-mailing Georgians for a Healthy Future’s Outreach & Advocacy Director here.

Nearly two million Georgians have no health insurance at all, among the highest in the nation. This problem has long been recognized as a tragic reality for the one in five Georgians who struggle to access medical care when they need it, as a strain on our state’s health care delivery system, and as a weight on Georgia’s economy. Georgia has the ability to comprehensively address this problem thanks to approximately $33 billion in new federal funding over 10 years to cover low-income uninsured Georgians through Medicaid. As these dollars filter through Georgia’s economy, they will have an estimated economic impact of $72 billion.

But Governor Deal is still saying no to the Medicaid expansion, even as other states across the country are saying yes and even though Georgia would be responsible for zero cents on the dollar for the first three years and no more than ten cents on the dollar thereafter. Georgia cannot afford to maintain the status quo while other states invest heavily in their health systems with federal tax dollars paid by Georgians.

Last week, Georgians for a Healthy Future and more than forty organizations joined together to launch the Cover Georgia campaign in support of the Medicaid expansion, but policymakers also need to hear from their constituents. Here is what you can do:

• Please call Governor Deal at 404-656-1776 and ask him to support expanding Medicaid in Georgia to people with incomes up to 133 percent of the federal poverty level.

• Please visit www.coverga.org to learn more about Medicaid and sign the petition in support of the Medicaid expansion.

• Find out who your legislators are here and ask them to support expanding Medicaid.

• Please share this information with your friends and neighbors and ask them to join you in supporting the Medicaid expansion by contacting their elected officials and signing the petition.

Thanks to the enactment of HB 1166, child only policies are once again available in the individual health insurance marketplace in Georgia. However, there is a short open enrollment period to sign up (January 1 – 31st of this year). To learn more, click here or contact the Georgia Department of Insurance at 800-656-2298.

It was a busy first week at the State Capitol, as the Senate passed legislation (SB 24) authorizing the Department of Community Health to assess a fee on hospitals to secure federal matching funds for the state’s Medicaid program. Without the assessment, the Medicaid program faces a budget shortfall.  SB 24 now moves to the House.

The Legislature will not officially be in Session next week but the House and Senate Appropriations Committees will hear from state agencies about their budget proposals. The health-related agencies will make presentations on Thursday morning in Room 341 of the State Capitol. These presentations are open to the public. The Department of Community Health’s presentation is scheduled for 10:15am and the Department of Public Health is at 11:15am on January 24th.