Matt Gaffney had trouble living in a group home for people with disabilities like himself. He’s nonverbal and suffers from multiple conditions: severe autism, bipolar disorder, chronic gastrointestinal issues. In group homes, Matt, now 42, had his medications ‘‘raised to higher levels,’’ says Sue Gaffney, his mother. And she adds that his last group home…
Georgia’s move to add some low-income adults to Medicaid appears threatened as the Biden administration moves to eliminate work requirements for coverage under the government program. The White House on Friday was expected to notify states that it plans to revoke Medicaid work requirements, Politico, the Washington Post and the Wall Street Journal reported. And…
Tens of thousands of uninsured Georgia children could gain a pathway to health coverage under a House bill moving through the General Assembly. The legislation, if approved, would lead to the state creating “express lane eligibility’’ for many kids receiving food stamps to be automatically added to the Medicaid program. About 7 percent of children…
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…
By Rebecca Grapevine Federal law requires states to update their plans for improving Medicaid health care quality at least every three years. Georgia, however, published its most recent quality plan in February 2016. It’s at least two years out of date. The guidelines aim to ensure members in Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (known…
The Biden administration is reportedly aiming to take steps to unravel recent federal decisions on health care. If pursued, those moves could have a major impact on Georgia’s Medicaid and private insurance waivers, recently approved by the Trump administration. The Washington Post reported this week that President Biden may take executive action to reopen the…
The impact of COVID-19 overwhelmed the news cycle – and public discussion — during 2020. That’s why it’s difficult to include any other topics in our annual Top 10 Georgia health care stories of the year. Nevertheless, we put COVID-related stories in our first five slots. It very well could have been all 10. Here’s…
More than half a million Georgians are enrolled in the state’s health insurance exchange for next year, a more than 10 percent increase from 2020. The increase is partly due to many people signing up after losing their jobs and their employer-based health insurance. The insurance exchange was created by the Affordable Care Act for those…
By Rebecca Grapevine Nine years ago, Georgia reported ample data to the feds on the health care quality of its Medicaid and PeachCare programs. In fact, a federal report at that time praised Georgia’s “proactive role in designing its data systems to support quality measurement.” For seven more years, Georgia continued to be near the…
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…