Premium increases for Georgia’s insurance exchange health plans beat regional and national rates, according to a recent study by the Urban Institute, cited by Georgia Health News. This is good news, as many Georgians shopping on the exchange will see only a modest increase from 2014 options, and some rural parts of our state will…
Before the ACA (Obamacare) was enacted, one in five Georgians were without insurance, one of the nation’s highest rates. But Gov. Nathan Deal and state legislative leaders have opposed the law, refusing to put together a state insurance exchange to help our citizens to get affordable health insurance policies. Deal and the legislative leaders also…
For individuals with developmental disabilities, the typical choices after finishing high school — getting a job or going to college — are difficult to accomplish, if not impossible. There are thousands of Georgians with developmental disabilities, and the unemployment rate for this group is more than 85 percent. As the 2015 Georgia General Assembly begins…
Georgia, like many states, faces a host of health care challenges: access to care, too many people without health insurance, failing rural hospitals and unsustainable health care spending that is crowding out other priorities – for government and for families. The debate over how to address these challenges has Georgia seemingly stuck between two options:…
Professor Erin C. Fuse Brown’s Orwellian defense of a counter-textual interpretation of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) regarding eligibility for federal tax subsidies would invite an epidemic of lawlessness throughout the Executive Branch. She would torture the word “State” to include “federal government” to promote health care policies she champions. But nothing good has ever come…
This spring, the Supreme Court will hear the latest challenge to the Affordable Care Act, in King v. Burwell. The case is about whether the federal government can give subsidies to people who obtain health insurance on an exchange operated by the federal government in a state that has declined to set up its own…
It’s been about a year since the United States fully implemented the Affordable Care Act – called by friends and foes “Obamacare.” It’s been about a year since curiosity rose in Europe about the highly contested milestone reform, and since my editors got hungrier by the day for stories about healthcare in America. And it’s…
Fall is a wonderful time of year. Changing leaves. Cooler weather. It’s also the season for people with Medicare to review their current Medicare coverage, as Medicare Open Enrollment begins. As we prepare for Medicare Open Enrollment, which began on Oct. 15 and ends on Dec. 7, Medicare wants everyone to know that quality continues to…
By every measure, Georgia is failing to meet the health and health care needs of its citizens. Not only are our health outcomes poor, they are declining relative to the rest of the country. Despite political rhetoric that lauds the health and prosperity of our state, objective data tell a very different story. Through a…
As the clock approached midnight on March 20, the final night of the 2014 Georgia legislative session, it became apparent that a final vote to send a medical cannabis oil bill to the governor’s desk for his signature was not going to happen this year. So I decided to avoid the usual “Sine Die” celebration…