May 7, 2026 For Newnan-based insurance agent Kandice Bell, rising Affordable Care Act monthly premiums meant more difficult conversations with returning clients during open enrollment for this year. “I had so many phone calls,” Bell said. “Even now, I still get phone calls about the premium hikes.” ACA premiums are up for most people with a marketplace plan since the end of last year, when Congress didn’t extend the enhanced premium tax credits that had subsidized premiums. Now, 80% of returning enrollees are paying more out of pocket for coverage, according to KFF Health News… “The early data that’s come out is pretty consistent with our expectations,” said Laura Colbert, executive director for the nonprofit healthcare policy group Georgians for a Healthy Future. “We would see a lot of folks deciding that they can’t both afford these premiums and their other everyday living costs that are also increasing.” Georgia’s lack of full Medicaid expansion has led more people with incomes just above the federal poverty limit to enroll for a private marketplace plan, which until this year, would have been discounted, Colbert said. “Because the subsidies expired, they no longer have a $0 monthly premium. It’s going to be a modest premium because of their income, but for folks making $16,000 a year, even a $15 monthly premium can be too much. And so, I expect that a big chunk of our coverage losses in Georgia will be those folks who are lowest income in the marketplace,” she said. “Georgia will likely see a greater drop in our enrollment than in other states because we have such a large proportion of lower-income consumers in the marketplace.”

Apr 29, 2026

On the April 29 edition: Georgia reacts to today’s landmark Supreme Court ruling on the Voting Rights Act; Fire officials near Georgia’s coast respond to dozens of illegal burn piles; And there are new tools to make sure parity laws are being followed.

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Peter Biello: Parity laws require health insurers to cover medically necessary physical and mental health care equally. GPB’s Sofi Gratas has more on new tools that can help consumers navigate how well their own insurers are doing.

Sofi Gratas: Insurers are required by state and federal law to report how well they’re enforcing parity. But in Georgia, many are falling short on vital metrics, including that reporting. Whitney Griggs with Georgians for a Healthy Future says that’s partially what’s behind the “F” grades they’re assigning to some insurers in their new public parity dashboard.

Whitney Griggs: What they don’t show you is the experience of the consumer trying to get that mental health care. Until we have that information, we’ll never really know how consumers are faring with the mental health parity law.

Sofi Gratas: The dashboard covers Medicaid and commercial marketplace plans. Over a dozen Georgia insurers were fined millions this year by the state for parity violations. A bill that would have increased fines for such violations did not pass the Legislature. For GPB News, I’m Sofi Gratas.

Apr 23, 2026

Georgians can now see how their health insurance plans compare when it comes to mental health coverage and compliance with the state’s 2022 Mental Health Parity Act.

Georgia’s landmark parity law, also known as HB 1013, requires insurers to cover mental health and substance-use on par with coverage for physical and surgical needs. And, it brought Georgia into step with federal parity requirements under the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act of 2008.

But Georgia insurers’ compliance has so far been slow, state insurance officials and patient advocates say…But Georgia insurers’ compliance has so far been slow, state insurance officials and patient advocates say.

Now, the nonprofit advocacy group Georgians for a Healthy Future has launched a new dashboard showing the progress — or lack thereof — of more than two dozen plans operating across the state.

The dashboard ranks 17 private individual and small-group health plans, and nine state Department of Community Health-overseen Medicaid, PeachCare for Kids, and related programs. It doesn’t list most large, employer-provided plans.

Apr 6, 2026

Rural hospitals across the Southeast are facing mounting financial and staffing pressures that experts warn could leave more small towns without nearby medical care.

The National Rural Health Association reports 43% of rural hospitals in Florida are vulnerable to closure. In Georgia, more than a third of rural hospitals are in danger, according to experts who say some communities are already feeling the impact of health care economics that work against small towns…In Georgia, nine rural hospitals have closed since 2010, according to Georgians for a Healthy Future. Florida Voices for Care estimates as many as eight closures in that same time frame, leaving communities without nearby care.

Mar 27, 2026

Mar 10, 2026

Laura Colbert led the passage of Georgia legislation protecting consumers from out-of-network medical bills. She has been named a Health Equity Leader of the Year in Atlanta Business Chronicle’s Health Care Champion Awards, alongside two other health care leaders.

Mar 2, 2026

In northeast Georgia, a hospital closed its maternity ward. In rural New Hampshire, a community health center shuttered. And in Iowa, a Des Moines hospital system laid off dozens of employees and closed a clinic. All these providers cited President Donald Trump’s sweeping domestic policy agenda package, which slashed more than $1 trillion in federal support for health care, as a factor in their decisions.

The legislation, known as the “One, Big, Beautiful Bill Act,” is expected to leave millions more Americans without coverage and to cut vital financial support for hospitals – a combination that could force already cash-strapped providers to pull back on services and staffing, leaving patients with fewer places and longer waits for care, particularly in emergency rooms…Maternal care is already strained in Georgia, said Whitney Griggs, director of health policy at Georgians for a Healthy Future, an advocacy group. The state has maternal and infant mortality rates that are much higher than the national average, and only 36% of counties had a labor and delivery unit in 2022.

Feb 6, 2026

Georgians will soon have access to a new centralized dashboard tracking issues with insurance coverage for mental health care claims under the state’s mental health parity law, and the law’s implementation. The new site, to be monitored by the nonprofit Georgians for a Healthy Future, is set to launch as top state officials urge more progress on enforcing Georgia’s Mental Health Parity Act.

The 2022 law, also known as H.B. 1013, requires Georgia health insurers to cover mental health and substance-use conditions on par with coverage for physical health conditions.

So far, compliance has been spotty, according to state numbers. A recent audit by the Office of the Insurance and Safety Fire Commissioner flagged 22 insurers for violating the law. The review identified more than 6,000 parity violations, including claims being reprocessed unnecessarily, inconsistent application of benefits and unnecessary prior authorizations, among other issues.

Feb 5, 2026

Georgia’s Mental Health Parity Act, passed unanimously by the Legislature in 2022, requires public and private insurers to cover mental health and substance use disorder in the same way as with physical health care.

But it’s not just a mental health issue, advocates with Georgia Council for Recovery said Tuesday at the Central Presbyterian Church near the Gold Dome for the third Mental Health Parity Day hosted by The Carter Center.

Advocates say enforcing parity law is about reducing emergency response costs, saving taxpayer dollars, and building healthier communities across Georgia. Mental illness is often expressed as behavioral health concerns such as substance use disorder. Outside the city’s Capitol steps, people live in tents and in need of food…

The Carter Center’s Tuesday program announced Georgians for a Healthy Future’s new public tool to track parity violations.

The dashboard will provide transparent, real-time monitoring of compliance using a straightforward stoplight indicator system to show where implementation is on track, where progress is mixed, and where critical gaps remain.

Consumers who believe they are victims of a mental health parity violation may file a complaint online or call 1-800-656-2298.

Jan 23, 2026

Department heads across state agencies began outlining their spending priorities this week in joint budgetary hearings hosted by the Georgia Senate and General Assembly.

During the hearings, department heads broke down Gov. Brian Kemp’s latest budget report, which amends some spending for the upcoming fiscal year starting July 1 and sets recommendations for fiscal year 2027.

Funding for the state’s four main departments of health made up nearly 40% of expenditures last year. That doesn’t change much in the governor’s new budget despite some mounting challenges.  …

At an annual event hosted by the nonprofit health advocacy group Georgians for a Healthy Future, state Senate Minority Leader Harold Jones II said the biggest challenge facing the state’s health care system is the expiration of Affordable Care Act-enhanced premium tax credits.

One estimate from the Georgia Health Initiative projects an additional 460,000 people in the state could become uninsured by 2034 because of the loss of enhanced premium tax credit and other provisions of House Resolution 1, also known as the “One Big Beautiful Bill.”

Jones and other senate Democrats filed a bill last week to create a series of state-funded subsidies and cost-sharing reductions administered under the Office of Insurance and Safety Fire Commissioner to help people afford plans through Georgia Access.