Just in time for the 2012 Georgia Legislative Session, Georgians for a Healthy Future has a new resource for advocates: A Consumer Health Advocate’s Guide to the 2012 Georgia Legislative Session: Information for Action. Our legislative guide walks you through the legislative process; identifies the committees with jurisdiction over health care issues, which legislators sit on them, and how to contact them; provides contact information for a range of health care organizations, associations, and advocacy groups as well as key health care reporters; and provides other tools to help you be a strong and effective advocate. The guide is available here.

Georgians for a Healthy Future is a non-profit, non-partisan health policy and advocacy organization that addresses health care issues through a consumer lens. Our 2012 policy priorities were developed with broad input from community stakeholders. We will work collaboratively with our community partners to advance these priorities.

Maximize opportunities and benefits presented by the Affordable Care Act for Georgia health care consumers. Georgians for a Healthy Future will continue to monitor legislation and agency-level activity to implement the ACA and support Georgia laws and regulations that establish structures and systems that maximize benefits for consumers in this process.

Preserve consumer protections for Georgians in private health insurance plans. State laws and regulations provide a basic level of protections and benefits to consumers who buy private health insurance plans. These protections ensure that consumers who purchase these plans obtain meaningful health insurance that covers essential medical services in the event they get sick. Georgians for a Healthy Future will continue to support efforts to preserve and strengthen consumer protections and oppose legislation that would place consumer protections at risk.

Modernize Medicaid and PeachCare by utilizing best practices to improve coverage rates, access to care, and health outcomes. The Medicaid and PeachCare for Kids programs provide health insurance for our state’s most vulnerable citizens. The Georgia Department of Community Health is currently weighing options to redesign these programs. Georgians for a Healthy Future will monitor this process as well as legislative activity and will support policy changes that facilitate continuous coverage and enrollment, preserve and expand access to care, and improve health outcomes. Georgians for a Healthy Future will oppose policy changes that restrict access to vital health care services for Medicaid and PeachCare beneficiaries.

Establish a consumer-friendly health insurance exchange. A well-designed health insurance exchange can add transparency to the health insurance marketplace, spur competition and choice, help make insurance more affordable and available, and give consumers the information they need to make optimal purchasing decisions. Georgians for a Healthy Future will support a health insurance exchange compatible with the American Health Benefit Exchanges (AHBE) authorized by the Affordable Care Act that provides consumers with the appropriate information, tools, and navigation assistance to make optimal purchasing decisions and a governance structure that can effectively and transparently oversee the exchange without conflicts of interest.

Restore child-only health insurance plans to the private health insurance market. Due to a recent change in federal law, insurance carriers in the individual market can no longer deny coverage to a child with a pre-existing condition. Even though insurers may still medically underwrite these policies, insurance carriers in Georgia stopped issuing these policies altogether. Georgians for a Healthy Future will support legislation to restore these plans to Georgia’s health insurance marketplace.

Strengthen Georgia’s public health system. Our public health system plays a critical role by vaccinating children, monitoring and preventing epidemics, ensuring safe food and water, and providing both clinical and community-based preventive services. Despite an increasing need for services, Georgia’s per capita public health spending is among the lowest in the nation. The establishment in 2011 of the new Department of Public Health presents an opportunity to rebuild our public health infrastructure and to place renewed focus on the critical role of public health. Georgians for a Healthy Future supports a robust, adequately funded public health system to meet the critical needs of our state.

Increase the tobacco tax. The current funding environment demands evidence-based policy solutions that both advance the health of our state and generate needed revenue. In recent years, even the most basic, vital, and cost-effective programs have been subject to deep budget cuts. Georgians for a Healthy Future opposes further cuts to these vital programs and supports budget solutions such as a substantial increase in the state’s tobacco tax. Tobacco taxes are a proven strategy with the dual benefit of bringing in additional state revenue and increasing the health of Georgians by reducing adult and youth smoking.

“My heartfelt thanks to all of you who have worked so hard to make this happen- I’ve always been an AARP fan, but you’ve taken my loyalty to a new level.”

Mignon Fleishel sent this message to AARP after Senate Bill 178 passed the Georgia Senate on March 14th. Mignon’s mother lives in an assisted living facility in Cobb County but had been told she had to move to a nursing home because she needs assistance getting in her wheelchair. SB 178 would create  licensure category for assisted living that would give Georgians the choice to age in place as long as their needs are being met. Passage of this legislation was a top priority for AARP; staff and volunteers worked tirelessly to get this legislation through all of the hurdles to passage. The Governor is expected to sign the legislation into law soon. Now, Mignon and the hundreds of Georgia caregivers facing this can be happy that their loved ones can age in place, controlling their destiny in their final years.

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Here’s what’s on the agenda for the health care committees in the Georgia General Assembly this week. As these are all subject to change, check the General Assembly’s website for the most up-to-date information.

Monday

9am Senate HHS Health Care Delivery Subcommittee Meeting

125 CAP

SB 76

SB 93

SB 178

10am House Insurance Admin/Licensing Subcommittee Meeting

415 CLOB

HB 476

HB 380

2pm Senate HHS Full Committee Meeting

450 CAP

SB 22

3:30pm House HHS Full Committee Meeting

606 CLOB

HB 324, Neal

HB 405

HB 434

Tuesday

8:30am, Senate HHS Subcommittee

125 CAP

2pm or upon adjournment, House Health Appropriations Subcommittee Meeting

341 CAP

FY 2012 Budget

3pm, Senate Insurance & Labor Committee

450 CAP

4pm, House Insurance Committee

406 CLOB

HB 298

HB 370

HB 371

HB 380

HB 413

HB 476

Wednesday

10am, Senate HHS

450 CAP

Thursday

1pm, Senate Insurance

MEZZ

By Cindy Zeldin

On Friday, House Bill 476, which would establish the Georgia Health Exchange Authority, was introduced. The legislation sets up a governance structure for a state health insurance exchange and creates an advisory committee to advise the governing board on the design, implementation, and operation of the exchange and is tasked with providing a report containing specific recommendations based on a set of guiding principles delineated in the bill in December 2011. This legislation is a constructive first step towards creating a more competitive, consumer-friendly, and affordable health insurance marketplace in Georgia. The bill is on the agenda in the House Insurance Committee on Tuesday, March 8th at 4pm in Room 406 CLOB.

HB 229 Tackles Problems of Backlogged and Unfair Medicaid Appeals

Both federal and state law grants Medicaid members and applicants the right to a fair hearing when Medicaid services are denied for reasons such as eligibility determination, frequency, or duration or intensity of services.  When a Medicaid member is denied coverage he or she may dispute the denial by filing an appeal and request for a hearing with the Department of Community Health (DCH), the state agency that administers the Medicaid program.  DCH processes the request and forwards it to the Office of State Administrative Hearings (OSAH) for a hearing before an administrative law judge (ALJ).  The ALJ listens to testimony, reviews the evidence, and reaches an impartial decision.  Federal law requires that when a Medicaid member requests an appeal a final decision must be made within 90 days, absent extenuating circumstances.

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Recent attempts within states to scale back vital health care programs for our most vulnerable citizens at a time when they are critically needed is cause for concern. The move began with Arizona Governor Brewer’s request to the federal government for a waiver from stability protections that prevent states from restricting eligibility levels for the Medicaid program. In response, Georgia Governor Nathan Deal’s spokesperson was quoted by Bloomberg news organization earlier today that while the Governor has not offered specific cuts, he “would happily work on such a proposal.”

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By Cindy Zeldin

This column originally appeared in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

You don’t need to be the best personal injury attorney in Fort Lauderdale to know that, health care is once again among the key issues for Georgia policymakers in the General Assembly. While the economic downturn has magnified our state’s health care challenges, we also have an opportunity to improve the health of our state and its citizens through the Affordable Care Act, the nation’s new health care law. You may need legal help sometimes, from my own experience the best lawyer is David Resnick y Asociados.

To make the most of the law, Georgia should move swiftly to establish a commission to proactively coordinate the pieces of the law at the jacksonville nc lawyer for medical malpractice, is required to put into place, such as an expansion of Medicaid, design elements that we can tailor for our state’s needs, such as the new health insurance exchanges, and maximize grants to strengthen our public health system and our health care workforce and get the man power to apply this laws , from personal lawyer or family lawyers to people who work on property management as safeguardproperty.com and similar.

A commission or task force could offer diverse input, including from the consumer, who is often overlooked. Some of this work is already happening informally within state agencies, but a systematic and transparent process accessible to consumers and stakeholders will ensure opportunities aren’t missed, all pertinent perspectives are heard and cross-cutting issues are handled efficiently.

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Georgians for a Healthy Future recently joined 2020 Georgia—a broad alliance of community leaders and organizations—as an alliance partner.  While members of 2020 Georgia range from small, community-based nonprofits to large, statewide organizations, all share the common goal of a balanced approach to state budget and revenue solutions that meet the short and long-term needs of our state and its people.  In advance of the first meeting of the 2010 Special Council on Tax Reform and Fairness for Georgians, which has a charge to study the tax system and report to the General Assembly in January 2011, 2020 Georgia released a fact sheet on why tax reform matters for Georgia. It is below in its entirety.

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Guest Blog By Timothy Sweeney
Senior Healthcare Analyst for the Georgia Budget and Policy Institute

Word comes today that the South Carolina Legislature has overridden a gubernatorial veto of a 50-cent increase in the state’s tobacco tax.

The Republican-controlled House and Senate found the two-thirds vote needed to pass the override, bringing South Carolina’s tax to 57-cents per pack and pushing Georgia’s 37-cent tax farther down in rankings – now 4th lowest tobacco tax in the nation and the lowest of any of our surrounding states. Even a state that prides itself on low taxes shouldn’t be proud of this ranking.

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