A House committee Monday narrowly approved a bill that targets potential conflicts of interest involving Department of Community Health Board members. Governmental Affairs Committee Chairwoman Amy Carter (R-Valdosta) voted in favor of it, breaking a 4-to-4 tie vote among the other panel members and sending the bill to the House Rules Committee for consideration before…
The Senate Insurance and Labor Committee on Thursday approved three bills related to health care, including one that mandates private insurance coverage for treatment of children with autism. Committee Chairman Tim Golden (R-Valdosta), the lead sponsor on SB 397, said the costs of the treatment that would be covered under the legislation could not exceed $35,000 per…
A House panel Thursday approved a bill that targets potential conflicts of interest on the Georgia Department of Community Health board. The original HB 913 was amended before the vote to make sure medical professionals, such as physicians and dentists, were not precluded from serving on the DCH board, whose nine members are appointed by the…
State Sen. Tommie Williams and three other General Assembly members Tuesday urged their colleagues to pass legislation this year that would require private health insurance companies in Georgia to cover treatment for autism. “It’s time to fix this problem,” said Williams, a Republican from Lyons. His niece’s daughter, Ava Bullard, is the inspiration for the…
Gov. Nathan Deal’s budget proposal for fiscal year 2015 contains a surprising health care item: $13 million to fund air ambulance service in 14 southwest Georgia counties. If the funding is approved by the General Assembly, it will the first time the state has ever operated an ambulance service — either by air or by…
State Sen. Vincent Fort (D-Atlanta) and nine other Moral Monday Georgia supporters were arrested inside Gov. Nathan Deal’s office Monday after refusing repeated police orders to leave. The demonstrators wanted Deal to accept their letter urging him to expand the state’s Medicaid program, as called for under the 2010 federal health reform law. Fort and…
State Sen. Brandon Beach (R-Alpharetta) faces an uphill climb in his effort to revamp the medical malpractice system in Georgia. Beach has been pushing his malpractice reform bill for two years, but experts say SB 141 is not likely to pass in 2014. House Speaker David Ralston (R-Blue Ridge) told the Atlanta Business Chronicle there…
An estimated 200 people gathered Monday at the state Capitol in perhaps the most vocal protest yet of Gov. Nathan Deal’s rejection of Medicaid expansion in Georgia. Georgia’s Moral Monday Coalition, an offshoot of a movement started in North Carolina, landed on the steps of the Capitol on Monday afternoon when protesters braved off-and-on rain…