As the 2021 legislative session ended, Georgia lawmakers wound up not passing a bill to allow visits by a “legal representative’’ to patients in hospitals and nursing homes during a health emergency. The legislation ping-ponged Wednesday between the two chambers, with the House supporting its previous, stronger version, and the Senate holding firm to its…
Georgia’s COVID vaccine campaign is shifting from seeking supply to stoking demand. Starting Thursday, all Georgians 16 and older will be eligible for COVID-19 vaccination, Gov. Brian Kemp announced Tuesday at a news conference at the state Capitol. Last week, Kemp allowed people 55 and older and those with medical conditions to get the vaccine,…
Story updated Georgia officials, as expected, have appealed the new federal position on the state’s Medicaid waiver plan, saying its possible revocation by the Biden administration would be ‘‘an arbitrary and unlawful bait-and-switch.’’ The commissioner of the state’s Department of Community Health, in a letter dated March 12, noted that federal health officials last year…
Before the pandemic struck, Himali Patel and her brother owned five small retail businesses. Now they’re down to one — a dry cleaning establishment. They have seen a disheartening drop in their income as COVID-19 ravaged the economy. Patel, an Atlantan who has multiple medical conditions, has been getting her health insurance through the Georgia exchange….
Amy Bielawski is hoping for what seemed unlikely a year ago. Back then, the Trump administration approved Gov. Brian Kemp’s Medicaid waiver plan for Georgia. The plan would have added some people to the state’s Medicaid rolls, but it also would have set up new eligibility requirements for the program — such as employment or…
A proposal allowing “legal representatives” more access to patients during health emergencies was approved by the Georgia House on Monday after emotional testimony by several lawmakers, including House Speaker David Ralston. The chamber’s passage of House Bill 290, along with a flurry of other measures, came during Crossover Day. That’s the deadline for a bill…
Now that the Johnson & Johnson vaccine is heading to Georgia and other states, will it reduce the number of people who are hesitant about getting a COVID-19 shot? A recent Kaiser Family Foundation survey suggests that J&J’s new single-dose vaccine will make a difference in public attitudes. The two vaccines that have been in…
Gov. Brian Kemp, as expected, is adding educators to the state’s COVID vaccine priority list. But the governor also is expanding eligibility for other groups: adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities and their caregivers; and parents of children with complex medical conditions. They will join K-12 educators and staff of public and private schools, and…
It’s not just the actual infections that have altered the medical landscape in Cook County. The COVID-19 pandemic has produced many more people with depression and anxiety, says Dr. Jairaj Goberdhan, a family physician in the South Georgia county. “I have written more prescriptions for that,’’ he says, adding, “I have written more sleep aid…
State officials “are looking at all options’’ after the Biden administration appeared to halt Georgia’s upcoming plan for increasing Medicaid enrollment. Frank Berry, commissioner of the Department of Community Health, told a House Appropriations subcommittee Tuesday that officials are reviewing a letter, sent by federal health officials, that expressed ‘’serious concerns’’ about the Georgia plan’s…