1. The Affordable Care Act rode a political roller coaster. The law also known as Obamacare survived multiple attempts to repeal it in Congress. But it did not come out unscathed. The White House cut marketing and enrollment time in the ACA exchanges, and halted cost-sharing payments to health insurers selling exchange policies. Then, in late December,…
Georgia’s premature birth rate is going up, recent statistics show. And it’s no coincidence that the state also has high rates of infant mortality and low birthweight babies. Merrilee Gober, a nurse who is a board member of Healthy Mothers, Healthy Babies Coalition of Georgia, says preterm births and their consequences don’t pose just a humanitarian problem but…
The National Association of Medicaid Directors emphasized Monday that its attention-getting opposition to the Graham-Cassidy health reform legislation was a consensus view of the board, and not a unanimous decision by all Medicaid directors. The legislation pending in the U.S. Senate would overturn much of the Affordable Care Act, including states’ expansion of their Medicaid programs. It would…
Tens of millions of dollars in government funding for Georgia health care faces a dangerous deadline in less than two weeks. And while experts believe that much of the funding, if not all, will be renewed by Oct. 1 or afterward, there are no guarantees, with a fractious Washington dealing with the bitter aftermath of votes to…
A health care consultant and former deputy commissioner of the Department of Community Health has been named the new chief of Georgia Medicaid. Blake Fulenwider will also become a deputy commissioner of Community Health, effective Sept. 15, the agency said Tuesday. He will replace Linda Wiant, who departed the position of Medicaid director without an official explanation…
By age 75, most people have nestled into retirement, taking it easy. Not Dr. Patrick O’Neal. A physician for almost 50 years, he has been interim commissioner of the Georgia Department of Public Health since Dr. Brenda Fitzgerald left the commissioner’s post to become director of the CDC. And while O’Neal is slated to resign…
With Congress stuck over repeal of the Affordable Care Act, the question of whether Georgia should pursue Medicaid expansion under the 2010 law is being debated once again. Thirty-one states have expanded their Medicaid programs. Last week, in a GHN Commentary, state Rep. Jason Spencer (R-Woodbine) argued that expansion would be a mistake for the…
In the health care debates of recent months, we have seen people with disabilities, families of children with chronic conditions, seniors, people in recovery from opioid addiction, and others stand together to advocate against congressional proposals that would have made unconscionable cuts to Medicaid and repealed major provisions of the Affordable Care Act. These advocates…
Three months after sending out invitations for potential partnerships, DeKalb Medical Center says it has received bids from several suitors. Cheryl Iverson, a DeKalb Medical vice president, did not identify the hospital systems making offers. “We had a very good response,’’ Iverson said late last week. The partnership proposals have occurred amid the continued…
The fields in Colquitt County in South Georgia are green this time of year and laden with cucumbers, eggplant and melons — vegetables that represent summertime and healthy eating. Many of the people who pick them, though, have health challenges. The farmworkers who move through the region, harvesting and packing the produce, are at a…