Dec 23, 2021 Laura Colbert of Georgians for a Healthy Future, a healthcare advocacy group, said Kemp is now left with three options: appealing the decision and “callously” leaving thousands of Georgians with no pathway to insurance; move forward with the rest of the waiver plan; or fully expand Medicaid. “We urge Governor Kemp and the Georgia General Assembly to take a clear-eyed look at these choices and examine the costs of our state’s on-going refusal to offer a hand-up to uninsured Georgians simply because they don’t have enough money in their wallets,” Colbert said.

Dec 23, 2021

“That’s the most we’ve ever had enrolled,’’ said Laura Colbert, executive director of the consumer advocacy group Georgians for a Healthy Future. She said the enrollment spike helps show that Republican Gov. Brian Kemp’s plan to scrap healthcare.gov and replace it with a privately run portal isn’t needed.

Dec 22, 2021

Laura Colbert, the executive director of Georgians for a Healthy Future, a consumer advocacy group that also helps sign Georgians up for coverage, said the big enrollment boost this year came thanks to increased subsidies and advertising — but also a new state reinsurance program that helped lower premiums and attract more insurers into the state’s marketplace. She, too, worries about what will happen if the subsidies expire.

“If nothing else, consumers are price-sensitive, and an expiration of the enhanced subsidies will definitely lead to fewer enrollments,” she said. “When extra help is in place, people really appreciate it. But when it goes away, they are often more frustrated by it than they appreciated the help in the first place.”

Dec 20, 2021

Laura Colbert, with Georgians for a Healthy Future, said one clue that parity is not working is how often behavioral health is not covered by Georgia insurance plans. She spoke about mental health parity earlier this year during a town hall meeting hosted by the Georgia Council on Substance Abuse.

“Georgia families are forced to navigate a really confusing insurance system in the middle of what might be a substance use crisis or a mental health crisis,” Colbert said. “You may be denied coverage for substance use services because the insurance company says they’re not ‘medically necessary.'”

Nov 16, 2021

“It will do monumental things for people who get covered and can go to the doctor and get prescriptions filled and have some peace of mind that they can take care of their health and their family’s health if something happens while they have this coverage,” Laura Colbert, executive director of the patient advocacy group Georgians for a Healthy Future, said.

But even so, Colbert called the plan “a four-year coverage gap fix.”

“There is no certainty about who our elected officials will be in four years and whether there will be an appetite to extend this program,” she said.

Oct 21, 2021

“These gaps really make it so that Georgians can’t afford needed health care. If they receive health care, they’re left with medical debt, or they have to make really tough choices about their health versus other necessities,” Colbert said.

Sep 27, 2021

“This level of interest from Georgia individuals and families demonstrates that the marketplace is serving a valuable purpose and meeting its intended goal of keeping people covered in an affordable and comprehensive way, even while many deal with big life changes brought on by the pandemic,” said Laura Colbert of the consumer advocacy group Georgians for a Healthy Future.

Sep 23, 2021

Laura Colbert, executive director of Georgians for a Healthy Future, agreed the issues of drug prices and transparency, coupled with the role PBMs play in the equation, will come up again in January.

“Discussions over PBMs have been going on for several years, and the legislature seems pretty fired up over continuing that effort,” Colbert said, explaining that PBMs were formed to help health insurers negotiate better deals with pharmaceutical manufacturers, and then pass those savings along to consumers.

“But realistically, it’s hard to know if those savings are actually being passed along,” Colbert said. “Pharmacies and health insurers are buying up PBMs, and it’s become especially hard to see where savings are being accumulated.”

Sep 13, 2021

“Medicaid members are best served when they have ready access to providers, insurers are eager to resolve their health care needs, and policymakers exercise strong oversight to ensure members’ health and well-being are prioritized over profits,” said Laura Colbert, executive director of Georgians for a Healthy Future, a consumer advocacy group.

 

Aug 19, 2021

Losing out on Medicare and Medicaid would likely make the economics unsustainable for many Georgia nursing homes, said Laura Colbert of the consumer advocacy group Georgians for a Healthy Future.

“Medicaid is actually more important than Medicare to nursing homes, people may find that surprising, but Medicaid is the primary payer for about three quarters of Georgia’s nursing home stays, so withholding either bucket of funds would be pretty financially detrimental.”

She added, “Given the vulnerability of people who are in nursing homes and long-term care facilities, I think it’s a very appropriate incentive to get workers vaccinated.”