Mar 4, 2023 Many rural Georgians are faced with compounding health disparities, such as a lack of job-based medical insurance, long travel times to access medical services and increased rates of chronic conditions, according to Georgians for a Healthy Future.

Feb 27, 2023

Andy Lord, who spoke on behalf of both Georgians for a Healthy Future and the Georgia Society of Clinical Oncology, argued there already exists a precedent among private insurance companies to charge smokers for their unhealthy choices.

“If you’re the same age, height, weight, everything, but one’s a smoker and one’s a nonsmoker, the private sector model says we charge the smoker more, right? That’s a business decision,” Lord said. “Higher risk behaviors result in higher premiums. That’s ubiquitous across the insurance industry.”

Feb 14, 2023

Laura Colbert is Executive Director of Georgians for a Healthy Future. She has doubts.

“The evidence is very nonexistent that the work requirement would motivate somebody to kind of go out and get a job when they wouldn’t otherwise,” Colbert said.

Why, she asks, would health insurance be a stronger incentive to work than basics like food and shelter?

“Medicaid will not pay your rent, your utility bill or put gas in your car,” Colbert said. “And, you know, it’s not like people get a check for Medicaid. All they get is health care.”

But more importantly, Colbert said that while Pathways will expand coverage, it doesn’t include everyone that needs it.

That’s because lots of people simply can’t work.

“Not only are people with serious mental illness and full-time caregivers going to be left out,” Colbert said, “but there will also be some groups that are disproportionately left behind by the program.”

Like those in rural areas where there aren’t good-paying jobs, or some minorities living in historically disinvested communities, she said.

Feb 2, 2023

Colbert, of Georgians for a Healthy Future, said Georgia’s current Medicaid system shuts many people who need health care coverage out of the system.

“Georgia has a very stringent Medicaid program,” Colbert noted. “ Our program is one of the least generous programs in the country. The governor has put forth this program for those folks who fall in a coverage gap because Georgia has not expanded Medicaid. For those folks who fall in that gap, this program is going to be very difficult to get in and stay enrolled in.”

Colbert said those folks who fall through the gap generally are Georgians between the ages of 18 and 40; people in rural areas and other places where higher-paying jobs are scarce; workers in low-paying fields such as food service, grocery, retail and childcare; people with mental health and substance abuse conditions; and people of color. Blacks and Latino account for half of the people in Georgia’s Medicaid coverage gap, said Colbert.

Jan 25, 2023

“They haven’t done any checks since March of 2020 so everyone has been able to keep their coverage for that entire period without having to renew,” said Laura Colbert, Executive Director of Georgians for a Healthy Future.

“Now that we know redetermination will begin April 1, 2023, it’s more important than ever for Medicaid and PeachCare for Kids members to make sure their contact information is up to date so we can reach them with critical, timely information, said DHS Commissioner Candice Broce. We want to make sure that eligible Medicaid members do not risk losing their family’s coverage.”

Jan 16, 2023

“My last person I [helped] only paid $8 a month health-care coverage for 2023,” Deanna Williams, an insurance navigator who works at Georgians for a Healthy Future, said during a press conference last week. “A lot of people who I’ve helped, especially in my rural area … were shocked to know that they could get a plan.”

Jan 9, 2023

And Georgians for a Healthy Future director Laura Colbert said Medicaid expansion is a long shot this session too.

“The governor does not have any meaningful motivation to move forward with Medicaid expansion because he won so decisively in November,” she said, “and because he got the green light on his Pathways waiver.”

Dec 31, 2022

Even people who maintain eligibility next year could temporarily lose coverage during redeterminations, said Laura Colbert, director of Georgians for a Healthy Future.

“Often Medicaid members, because they are in low income families, they tend to be harder to reach,” Colbert said. “Because they’re busy, because they live in rural areas, because they move more often.”

Colbert says low-income adults will likely see the largest coverage losses, because they don’t often qualify for Medicaid unless they are pregnant, disabled or have certain cancers.

“Unless our state leaders choose to expand Medicaid,” Colbert said.

Dec 29, 2022

Jan 10: Georgians for a Healthy Future will host an event at The Freight Depot in downtown, its annual Health Care Unscrambled event, where a bi-partisan panel of state lawmakers and a keynote speaker will explore health care policy and public health issues.

Dec 13, 2022

Treylin Cooley, who is a health insurance navigator with Georgians for a Healthy Future, said people may be surprised to find they qualify for financial assistance – like he once did.

“Because I was able to benefit from the insurance, I am a big proponent of people applying for the insurance and realizing that you qualify when you probably thought that you didn’t,” Cooley said. “The premium tax credits do help out tremendously, and it’s a lifesaver.”