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.

Jan 22, 2026

Jan 13, 2026

ATLANTA (WJBF) — Lawmakers at the Georgia State Capitol are facing renewed calls this legislative session to expand healthcare access and lower costs for residents across the state, particularly in rural communities.

Healthcare advocates say improving access is critical to preventing rural hospital closures, addressing staffing shortages, and reducing the number of uninsured Georgians.

Nonprofit groups like Georgians for a Healthy Future argue that rural areas continue to struggle with limited access to care, including hospitals shutting down key services such as labor and delivery units.

“Georgia has a huge issue with access to care in rural parts of the state,” said Whittney Griggs, director of health policy for Georgians for a Healthy Future. “Hospitals are closing service lines and struggling just to keep their doors open.”

Without those subsidies, thousands are now paying higher premiums, and some are choosing to go without coverage altogether.

Jan 9, 2026

Open enrollment for 2026 Affordable Care Act health coverage ends next week, and Georgia residents are bracing for increased premiums and limited affordable coverage options compared to last year.

Advocates predict that premiums in Georgia could jump as high as 75% on average, and that Black Georgians, who face higher uninsured rates than white residents, will be disproportionately impacted by these changes.

“We do know that Black Georgians are over-represented among marketplace enrollments, and so as costs go up for those marketplace plans, Black Georgians will be hit first and hardest,” said Laura Colbert, executive director of Georgians for a Healthy Future.

These changes in coverage come as a result of Congress choosing to not extend enhanced ACA subsidies, also known as enhanced premium tax credits, at the end of 2025. For those who qualified, the tax credits helped bring down the cost of ACA premiums.

Dec 31, 2025

It’s a new year at the Gold Dome, though technically it’s really the start of the tail end of the two-year biennium. So happy half new year in Georgia politics?

Here are some of the key dates and events to know as we roll into the new year (and we’ll keep updating this list as more dates firm up):

Jan. 15: Gov. Brian Kemp will deliver his final State of the State address at the Capitol at 11 a.m. This will be where the governor outlines his priorities for his last legislative session.

Jan. 15: Georgians for a Healthy Future hold their policy-packed Health Care Unscrambled event at the Georgia Freight Depot. This year, the keynote speaker is Katie Keith, who is the founding director of the Center for Health Policy and the Law at Georgetown University’s O’Neill Institute for National and Global Health Law. Tickets are available here.

Dec 17, 2025

On Wednesday, House Speaker Mike Johnson said that there would not be a House vote on extending the subsidies. Four Republicans, however, defected from the GOP and signed on to a discharge petition to force a vote on the subsidies. GOP leadership in the House, along with Johnson, will ultimately decide when the vote happens. As of press time, the measure had not made it to the floor.

The U.S. Senate last week failed to advance a plan to address increasing health care premium costs due to expiring subsidies on Affordable Care Act plans.

The subsidies initially were part of a 2021 law and later were extended through the end of 2025 by the Inflation Reduction Act, which was signed into law by then-President Joe Biden in 2022.

The ACA, also known as Obamacare, has drawn ire from the Republican party since its inception and passage in 2010. Since then, Republicans in Congress and President Donald Trump have advocated for repealing and replacing the legislation, though no consensus has been reached on an ACA replacement.

Georgia currently uses an alternative website for what’s known as “The Marketplace” — a federal website for selecting health care plans. Georgia’s site is called Georgia Access and is run by the state, as opposed to the federal government. It launched last fall. According to Georgians for a Healthy Future, the state marketplace hosts two insurance companies that were suspended from the federal marketplace for alleged fraud.

Dec 16, 2025

Monday was the deadline to buy health insurance that starts in January on the Affordable Care Act marketplace. But unlike many other states, it’s not too late for Georgia residents, who have until Jan. 15 to sign up for coverage that begins Feb. 1.

That’s because Georgia runs its own ACA marketplace exchange, GeorgiaAccess.gov. About 1.3 million people are enrolled in Georgia Access…

Analysts expect Georgia to see one of the nation’s biggest rises in uninsured people next year, as a result of expiring pandemic-era subsidies for ACA plans.

The final numbers for 2026 enrollment may not be clear for a couple of months. Huge numbers of people enroll at the last minute through auto-renewal. But after that, some people who became enrolled won’t pay the premiums and will drop off….

Georgians for a Healthy Future was formerly a navigator organization and now has a certified assistant. It has limited hours in Byron, Georgia at 470-654-5509.

Dec 10, 2025

Georgians with Affordable Care Act health insurance are evaluating their options as open enrollment winds down for plans beginning Jan. 1, 2026.

A majority of the roughly 1.5 million Georgians with coverage in the state would be affected if enhanced premium tax credits that have made Marketplace plans more affordable since 2021 expire at the end of the year…

“Everyone has been calling because around Nov. 1, they have received their letters letting them know what their premium costs will be going up to,” says Deanna Williams, Enrollment Assister with the nonprofit Georgians for a Healthy Future, part of the state’s Certified Application Counselor (CAC) program.

Williams says she’s heard from dozens of people from around the state who are worried about being able to afford health care.

“If your premium is more than doubling and your income hasn’t increased, that’s something they’re trying to evaluate in their household. And then others are trying to say, well, the cost of this monthly premium is more than what I pay for rent and my bills included,” Williams says.