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In The News
Georgians for a Healthy Future is frequently cited in news articles about health care issues, ensuring the consumer perspective is heard. Read news stories featuring Georgians for a Healthy Future’s perspective below.
2023
“A lot of that will depend on how easy it is for folks to submit their proof of qualifying activities or proof of exemption,” Whitney Griggs, senior policy manager for the group Georgians for a Healthy Future, said in an emailed statement.
An advocate for Medicaid coverage of the poor, Laura Colbert, said she was not too concerned about DCH being behind in completing case files. As long as a case review hasn’t been completed, she reasoned, that person will just keep getting coverage, so it’s not an emergency.
What Colbert is concerned about is the unanswered questions in the numbers: What is going on with the thousands of cases that haven’t been reviewed and will large numbers of them also be disenrolled for not responding?
“I think that’s pretty important,” Colbert said.
Deanna Williams, the central Georgia insurance navigator for Georgians For A Healthy Future, says when she’s out in the community helping people enroll for affordable coverage, consumers are simply struggling to navigate the website. With two new state-based initiatives happening during Medicaid unwinding, she says more education will have to be offered by insurance navigators.
“When trying to enroll on their own, they’re struggling with navigating the system on HealthCare.gov, and also we’re trying to use the filters that cater to the coverage they may need on Healthcare.gov,” Williams said. “With us launching the state-based marketplace, it will be hard for a lot of people to navigate because we’re going to have people who are losing coverage who may not know where their next step is going to be.”
Black Georgians are already uninsured at a high rate. According to Kaiser Family Foundation, in 2021 30.1% of the uninsured under 65 years old in Georgia were Black. That is complicated because more than 40% of those in the state’s Medicaid “coverage gap” are Black, meaning they’re too poor to qualify for the ACA marketplace assistance.
The state sent a blueprint to the CMS that says they’ll have a program for insurance navigators like Williams to help with their outreach and enrollment efforts. It’s unclear how much money will be available, but the state says a previous plan to exit HealthCare.gov had a “robust” outreach program.
Whitney Griggs, senior health policy analyst at Georgians For A Healthy Future, says that an overall wariness of the rapid changes could increase already high uninsured rates for Georgians of color.
“We’ve learned through the ACA that the only way to reach people and get them enrolled is to have trusted messengers to be in the community, to really almost embed themselves,” she said. “If the state doesn’t properly fund navigators and certified application counselors, that’s where there’s a concern that people could fall through the cracks because they’re not getting this community outreach.”
The state market will be different than what Kemp originally planned. He wanted to put insurance deals in the hands of private brokers who could sell policies with the insurance package required by the Affordable Care Act as well as policies with lower benefits. Those measures might have been cheaper, but Laura Colbert, executive director of Georgians for a Healthy Future, said they would have been worse for consumers.
“That really would have taken Georgia back to the bad old days where insurers really gave consumers a head start and it was incredibly difficult to compare plans,” Colbert said, calling Kemp’s original plan a “non-marketplace.”
President Joe Biden’s administration balked at Kemp’s plan, and after a legal battle, Kemp agreed to a centralized state marketplace that would sell only state-approved policies.
Kemp administration officials say they’re ready to launch the marketplace quickly because they’ve done so much work on the earlier proposal, which they spent at least $31 million on.
A state market could have some benefits, Colbert said. She suggested, for example, that Georgia could extend its enrollment deadline beyond the normal November 15 to January. 15 windows. She also suggested allowing people to get health insurance with their income tax returns and making a one-stop application for Medicaid, Peach Care Insurance for Children, and the state marketplace.
“Some state marketplaces have done some really innovative things. I think it’s not clear yet whether Georgia will get there or not,” Colbert said.
“There is a legal requirement that people with IDD and other mental disabilities be housed in as close to their community setting as they can be,” Whitney Griggs, senior policy manager with Georgians for a Healthy Future, said during a virtual program Thursday.
“We also know that a lack of access to affordable, accessible and sustainable community housing is associated with an increased risk of institutionalization, homelessness and poor health and social outcomes among people with IDD,” Griggs said.
Laura Colbert is the executive director of Georgians for a Healthy Future, and organization that is helping Medicaid recipients determine their eligibility.
She said during the pandemic, the federal government barred states from cutting off Medicaid coverage in order to make sure people had health insurance.
“Some folks who are currently covered by Medicaid will be transitioning to the ACA marketplace because of the unwinding, and we don’t want that process to be any more confusing or hard than it already is,” said Georgians for a Healthy Future Executive Director Laura Colbert. “If Georgia switches to a state-based marketplace in the middle of the unwinding, that means that will put some extra burden on our Medicaid agency. They’ll need to update their notices. They’ll need to help Georgia Medicaid members understand that if they are disenrolled and they’re eligible for ACA coverage, that they need to go to a new place instead of healthcare.gov. That will be in an added difficulty.”
During testimony for the 2023 legislative session, Georgians for a Healthy Future compared the state-based marketplace to a manual vintage Porsche and the federally-facilitated marketplace to a 2022 Honda Accord with GPS navigation. To ensure a successful marketplace launch that focuses on keeping Georgian’s covered, the state should delay implementation of the state-based marketplace and stick with the known and familiar federal marketplace until after the completion of the Medicaid unwinding.
The state market will be different from the one Kemp originally envisioned. He had wanted to place insurance offerings in the hands of private brokers who could sell both policies offering the bundle of coverage required under the Affordable Care Act, as well as policies with lesser benefits. Those policies might have been cheaper, but Laura Colbert, the executive director of Georgians for a Healthy Future, said they would have been worse for consumers.
“That would have really rolled Georgia back to the bad old times where insurers really had the leg up on consumers, where it was incredibly hard to compare plans,” Colbert said, calling Kemp’s original plan a “non-marketplace.”
A state-based market could have some advantages, Colbert said. For example, she suggested Georgia could extend its enrollment period past the normal Nov. 15-Jan. 15 window. She also suggested offering to let people buy health insurance using their income tax refunds, and a one-stop application for Medicaid, Peach Care insurance for children and the state marketplace.
“Some state-based marketplaces have done some really innovative things. I think it’s TBD on whether Georgia will get there or not,” Colbert said.