Georgia defends insurance waiver as company interest builds

Georgia officials have pushed back against a federal health agency’s request for more financial information on the state’s insurance waiver plan. A letter dated July 2 says that Georgia’s approach to replace the Affordable Care Act’s healthcare.gov enrollment set-up with a privately run process has already been approved by the feds. The Georgia “Section 1332’’ waiver has…

Georgians taking advantage of special enrollment on exchange

More than 40,000 Georgians have signed up for health coverage on the state exchange since a special enrollment period began in February. That’s the third-highest total among the 36 states using federally run health insurance exchanges. Only the heavily populated states of Florida and Texas had more sign-ups, according to federal data through March 31….

Will new incentives for Medicaid expansion sway Georgia leaders?

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…

Thousands of Georgians enrolling for coverage as exchange reopens

More than 16,000 Georgians signed up for coverage on the state’s insurance exchange during the first two weeks of a special enrollment period ordered by President Biden. That’s the third-highest total of any state, behind Florida and Texas, among the 36 states that let the federal government run their exchanges. (The other states run their…

Georgia’s new senators back incentive bill for Medicaid expansion

One of the biggest carrots in the 2010 Affordable Care Act was a promise that the federal government would pay 100 percent of the costs of a state expanding its Medicaid program for three years. A group of mostly Democratic U.S. senators — including Georgia’s newly elected Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff — is pushing…

Justices’ remarks signal ACA may survive latest legal challenge

It’s perilous to predict a court or jury decision based on the arguments presented. But supporters of the Affordable Care Act will be heartened by the comments of two Supreme Court justices Tuesday during oral arguments on the bid by several states to overturn the 2010 law. Georgia is among the 18 states, all led…

Ambetter policyholders set to split an estimated $58 million in rebates

An estimated total of $58 million in rebates will be split among 202,000 Georgians who had individual Ambetter policies last year, according to state officials. The payouts are required under a rule in the Affordable Care Act. The amount of rebates to Ambetter policyholders would be similar to the payout last year from the insurer,…

The U.S. Supreme Court made Medicaid expansion optional for states..

How Supreme Court ‘risk’ ruling will benefit insurers in Georgia

Humana went full-throttle when the health insurance exchange debuted in Georgia six years ago. The federal Affordable Care Act created exchanges in the states to help people without job-related or government coverage buy reasonably priced insurance. And Humana’s lower prices for policies attracted many Georgia exchange customers. But Louisville, Ky.-based Humana saw this part of its…

Democratic debate focuses little on health care, but shows divide

In their previous debates, Democratic presidential candidates spent more time discussing health care than any other topic. But at Wednesday’s debate in Atlanta, health care was almost crowded off center stage by several other issues. The 10 Democratic candidates spent much of the two hours addressing topics such as the impeachment inquiry involving President Trump,…

Too little? Kemp’s proposal on changing Medicaid takes flak

During his gubernatorial campaign last year and his first months in office as governor, Brian Kemp declared that he would not expand the state’s Medicaid program. And in the second half of his waiver proposals, announced Monday, Kemp stuck to that position. The Republican governor’s plan, by setting tough eligibility requirements, would lead to only…