By June Deen
American Lung Association in Georgia

Under the umbrella of Healthy Savannah, several organizations including the American Lung Association, the American Cancer Society, and the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids are leading the charge to enact a local smoke-free ordinance in Savannah.  The Savannah City Council has begun public discussion on the Healthy Savannah proposal to make all workplaces and places open to the public smoke-free.  Council members plan two public meetings before the introduction and first reading on August 12.

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Georgians for a Healthy Future recently joined 2020 Georgia—a broad alliance of community leaders and organizations—as an alliance partner.  While members of 2020 Georgia range from small, community-based nonprofits to large, statewide organizations, all share the common goal of a balanced approach to state budget and revenue solutions that meet the short and long-term needs of our state and its people.  In advance of the first meeting of the 2010 Special Council on Tax Reform and Fairness for Georgians, which has a charge to study the tax system and report to the General Assembly in January 2011, 2020 Georgia released a fact sheet on why tax reform matters for Georgia. It is below in its entirety.

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By Charles Hayslett

Late last year our public relations firm, Hayslett Group, was selected by Healthcare Georgia Foundation to organize a campaign to improve Georgia’s public health system.  In the months since then, we’ve been involved in a variety of organizational activities.  Among other things, we’ve conducted Public Health Leadership Academies in four cities across Georgia, recruited nearly 30 high-profile organizations to serve on a campaign advisory board and put up a campaign Web site at www.togetherwecandobetter.com.  Earlier last week we officially and publicly launched the campaign – dubbed “Partner Up! for Public Health” – with a press briefing that was Webcast from Healthcare Georgia’s offices.

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Guest Blog by Joann Yoon, Voices for Georgia’s Children

Thursday, July 1, was the start of Georgia’s 2011 State Fiscal Year, and we began already $375 million behind. The state legislative session which ended on April 29 saw dramatic budget cuts impacting education and other services for children and families. To add insult to injury, Georgia suffered yet another blow resulting from failure of the U.S. Senate to move forward the Federal Jobs Bill, which in part included a provision that would extend an enhanced FMAP to states for an additional 6 months. FMAP, which stands for Federal Medical Assistance Percentages, is a break down of how many Federal dollars Georgia receives to help pay for our state Medicaid program. Given the high unemployment rate and dire financial situations that families in the U.S. were facing, in last year’s Federal Stimulus Bill, Congress instituted an increase in Federal match dollars to all states to help keep their respective Medicaid programs afloat, which are necessary for people that receive injuries or wound for accidents, and for people not in one of these programs can also use services as Expert Woundcare and similar others.

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By Amanda Ptashkin

Just more than three months ago, the new federal health care law was signed by President Obama. Since that time, pundits and consumers across the country and here in Georgia have been racing to figure out how and when these reform measures will impact us. July 1, two pieces of reform went into effect, and as a result, more Georgians will have access to affordable and quality health care.

The first reform is a high-risk pool, known as the Pre-existing Condition Insurance Plan (PCIP). For the first time, Georgians who have been without health insurance for the last six months and who have been denied coverage based on a medical condition will be eligible to enroll in the PCIP.

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Guest Blog from the American Cancer Society

A new American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network (ACS CAN) poll of families affected by cancer shows that cancer patients, survivors and their families continue to struggle to afford health care and pay for other basic needs such as food and heat in the troubled economy. The findings suggest the need to implement the Affordable Care Act so that it benefits people with cancer.

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By Jeff Cornett RN MSN

Director of Training, Research, & Advocacy
Hemophilia of Georgia

One of the benefits of the Affordable Care Act, the new health insurance reform law, is the provision that allows young people to stay on their parents’ health insurance until age 26.  Officially scheduled to be implemented on September 23, 2010, several insurers have put this benefit into effect early so that spring 2010 graduates can remain insured.

Georgia families covered by one of the largest insurers in our state have been surprised to find that this benefit is not available to them and won’t be unless Congress passes a law to make it so.  These families are covered by TRICARE, the program that provides civilian health benefits for military personnel and their dependents.  The Department of Defense controls all aspects of TRICARE and it is not affected by the Affordable Care Act.  Therefore, military dependents will continue to be pushed out of TRICARE coverage at age 21 (or age 23 if they are full-time students).  TRICARE maintains a webpage to explain this.

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By Amanda Ptashkin

Two weeks ago, Georgians for a Healthy Future co-released a report with Families USA that quantified the number of Georgians who, absent health care reform, would be at risk of a denial of coverage based on their pre-existing health conditions.  See our guest blog posting on Beyond the Tressle for more details about the findings of the report.  However, this posting is not about the statistics–it is about the people behind them.

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Guest Blog By Timothy Sweeney
Senior Healthcare Analyst for the Georgia Budget and Policy Institute

Word comes today that the South Carolina Legislature has overridden a gubernatorial veto of a 50-cent increase in the state’s tobacco tax.

The Republican-controlled House and Senate found the two-thirds vote needed to pass the override, bringing South Carolina’s tax to 57-cents per pack and pushing Georgia’s 37-cent tax farther down in rankings – now 4th lowest tobacco tax in the nation and the lowest of any of our surrounding states. Even a state that prides itself on low taxes shouldn’t be proud of this ranking.

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The 2010 Legislative Session is officially over in Georgia.  We want to provide you a wrap-up of key pieces of health-related legislation and what they mean for Georgians across the state.

• • HB 307 (which ultimately was attached to HB 1055) imposes a 1.45% bed tax on hospitals.  It is estimated that HB 1055 will generate $300 million for the state.
  • HB 317 (which was attached to HB 411) states that Georgians cannot be compelled to “participate in any health care system,” and that the purchase or sale of health insurance products and/or direct healthcare services could not be prohibited.  This language is intended to exempt Georgians from the individual mandate to purchase health insurance that is included in the recently enacted national health reform law. Because federal law predominates, HB 317 is not expected to have much practical impact.
  • HB 321 now brings Third Party Administrators under Georgia’s Prompt Pay statues, creating a more attractive practice environment for physicians within Georgia and creating more physician choice for Georgia’s consumers and effectively lowering costs through increased competition.  The statute ensures that insurance providers pay medical claims within 15 to 18 working days.
  • HB 866 permits state matching grants to organizations for doctors who move to rural areas.  This legislation serves to enhance recruitment efforts in bringing physicians and specialists to underserved areas within the state thus allowing for greater health care options statewide.
  • HB 1040 allows unlicensed caretakers to perform some home health care activities.  This will enable trained, unlicensed care-partners or assistance personnel to provide some health maintenance activities under informed consent for people with disabilities and the written order of a physician, eliminating the ban on such services within the Nurse Practice Act and allowing or more affordable in-home health options.
  • HB 1268 extends the 65% federal COBRA premium subsidy for people laid off by small firms.
  • HB 1407 provides for a single administrator for dental services for Medicaid recipients and PeachCare for Kids participants thus effectively removing the administrative “middle man” in accessing dental care. Just Click here for more information.
  • SB 316 will make Medigap policies available to Georgians who are living with a disability and receiving Medicare benefits, allowing for fewer chronically ill Georgians to be stuck within the Medicare donut hole or avoid other underpayment issues.
  • SB 360 and HB 23 deal with cellular phone use while driving.  The Senate bill bans texting by all drivers and the House bill bans class D drivers, mostly teenagers, from talking on their cell phones while on the road.
  • SB 367 expands the list of persons who may consent to treatment on behalf of another and provides for medical consent guardians.
  • SB 458 will require pickup drivers to join the rest of the state’s motorists in wearing seat belts. Pickups used on farms and other agricultural jobs are exempt.
  • SR 277 asks voters to approve a $10 fee for license plates to fund trauma services.

Two bills that we closely monitored throughout the Legislative Session, SB 407 and HB 1184, ultimately did not pass. We had major concerns about the impact of these bills on Georgia’s consumers, as they would have circumvented essential health insurance benefit mandates and eroded consumer protections for health care consumers by authorizing out-of-state insurers to sell health insurance plans to Georgians.

One issue that we were following throughout the session, the tobacco tax increase, failed to make it through in the final hours of session.  Despite being a win for public health, a win for tobacco prevention and a win for the state coffers, the tobacco tax was left behind for the year.  Hopefully next year it will be back on the table for negotiation.

As for the budget:
On the 40th day of the session, the FY 2011 budget was adopted. The Medicaid and PeachCare programs were largely protected from cuts because the state is operating under maintenance of eligibility requirements tied to the enhanced rate of federal matching funds (FMAP) Georgia is receiving from the federal government as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. However, the state budget does include increases to PeachCare premiums. Outside the Medicaid and PeachCare programs, there were other health care budget cuts, including cuts to health department grant-in-aid, Babies Born Healthy prenatal care, and Area Health Education Centers. For a more detailed breakdown of the budget and its implications on health care, please see the Georgia Budget and Policy Institute’s reports.

Looking Ahead:

Though the session is over, the hard work is far from over.  Over the next couple of months Georgians for a Healthy Future will be monitoring the implementation of the new national health reform law to ensure that Georgia is prepared to meet the needs of its citizens.  We will continue to keep you updated on issues that affect the health and welfare of all Georgians and we will look to you for support as we forge ahead.