Dec 11, 2017 Laura Colbert, the executive director of Georgians for a Healthy Future, said her organization is “very concerned” that Medicaid reductions could be in the offing after the tax bill gets approved. “Earlier this year we saw proposals to block-grant Medicaid or restructure its funding to provide less money to serve the same number of people,” Colbert said. “We are really concerned with the tax bill … that those proposals will be revived and that we will again have to look at what restructuring would look like here. “When we are talking about cutting Medicaid at the state level, you are really talking about cutting health care to children, seniors and people with disabilities.”

Nov 9, 2017

Laura Colbert of consumer group Georgians for a Healthy Future said that given the confusion about the future of the ACA and low consumer awareness of the enrollment period, “it is a little surprising to see such robust participation in the first week of the ACA’s open enrollment period. This strong start demonstrates that consumers still value affordable, quality health insurance and are motivated to enroll.”

Oct 30, 2017

“The most damaging has been the rhetoric and confusion,” said Laura Colbert, executive director of Georgians for a Healthy Future, an advocacy group. “Overall, this could be a bellwether for future years.”

Oct 19, 2017

“This trend is concerning for Georgia consumers no matter how they get their health insurance and confirms the anecdotal reports we have received from consumers across the state,’’ said Laura Colbert, executive director of consumer group Georgians for a Healthy Future, when asked about the Commonwealth Fund’s findings.

“We have increasingly heard from Georgians that they are shouldering a larger and larger share of the costs of their coverage, and that this shift is impacting their wallets and their health care.”

Insurers and employers are shifting costs to consumers as a way to manage their own growing health care costs, and consumers are feeling the squeeze, Colbert said. “Consumers will not feel much relief until the high costs of health care are addressed in a real way that moves our health care system to one that rewards value.”

Oct 18, 2017

About 42,000 of the nearly half million people enrolled under the Affordable Care Act in Georgia will likely be affected, according to Georgians for a Healthy Future, a patient advocacy group.

These are consumers who have purchased health care plans on the state’s federally run marketplace but who don’t qualify for aid.

“They’re going to be the people who really feel the brunt of this decision,” said Laura Colbert, the group’s executive director.

Oct 13, 2017

But Georgians for a Healthy Future says this decision is going to really affect the middle class.

“This decision isn’t really helpful for anyone, really it’s going to drive premium ups. It’s going to cost the federal government more, insurers may leave the marketplace and consumers are going to be left without choices.”

Oct 3, 2017

“A lot of transgender Georgians are, when they seek healthcare they are getting medically and culturally incompetent care,” said Laura Colbert, a cisgender woman and executive director at Georgians for a Healthy Future.

“So they are seeing doctors who are pushing their religious view, who are questioning their need to transition, who are, you know, referring to them by the wrong pronoun or their legal name rather than their preferred name,” Colbert added.

Oct 2, 2017

The Chatham County Safety Net Planning Council has been named as recipient of the 2017 Community Impact Award by Georgians for a Healthy Future, an organization dedicated to increasing access to quality affordable healthcare for all Georgians. The Community Impact Award is presented to an individual or organization whose work directly improves the health of Georgians in and around their community.

Sep 28, 2017

Laura Colbert, the director of Georgians for a Healthy Future, said the patient advocacy organization was “cautiously optimistic” about the road ahead. “But we won’t be surprised if we see further threats to consumers health care,” she said. “I also hope our elected officials learned some lessons from this process.”

Sep 16, 2017

The report notes that federal rules prohibit discrimination against transgender patients, and it was written as the White House considers changing that rule. The groups that produced the study, Georgians for a Healthy Future, Georgia Equality and The Health Initiative, oppose such a change. They also support educating health care workers on.