Georgia’s preterm birth rate rose from 11.2 percent to 11.4 percent in 2017, keeping the state at a “D’’ grade in the annual Premature Birth Report Card from the March of Dimes. The state’s rate of babies born too soon (before 37 weeks of pregnancy) continued to reflect large racial disparities, with black women at…
All of the political campaign talk on health care may have obscured the reality that starting Thursday, the health insurance exchange opens for business. Open enrollment for Georgia’s 2019 exchange, which operates under the Affordable Care Act, runs from Nov. 1 to Dec. 15. The coverage rules will feature a significant change: People who previously…
This is the first in a series of articles on foreign-born physicians practicing in Georgia. Other articles in this special report will focus on barriers that immigrant doctors face if they want to work in the state; a clinic that serves mainly immigrant and refugee patients; and on Muslim physicians here. Dr. Alluri Raju vividly…
More than 80 percent of uninsured Georgia children were eligible for coverage in government health insurance programs in 2016, but were not enrolled, a new report says. Several barriers to enrollment and medical services can prevent kids from getting the care they need, said the report, from the advocacy group Voices for Georgia’s Children. The…
Georgia’s uninsured rate ticked up slightly, to 13.4 percent, in 2017, the U.S. Census Bureau reported this week. That’s the fourth-highest rate in the nation. The state trails only Texas, Oklahoma and Alaska. The uninsured rate in Georgia was 12.9 percent in 2016. Nationally, 8.8 percent of people, or 28.5 million, did not have health insurance…
A small DeKalb County nonprofit has been given a statewide grant to provide navigators for people seeking to enroll in the Affordable Care Act insurance exchanges. Navigators are people specially trained to advise and assist consumers who use the exchanges to buy health coverage. Georgia Refugee Health and Mental Health, based in Clarkston, will get…
Democratic gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams rolled out a multi-pronged approach to improving Georgia health care Monday, including a familiar push for Medicaid expansion and a new call for stabilizing insurance premiums for consumers. Abrams also advocated for steps to lower Georgia’s infant and maternal mortality rates, along with supporting access to reproductive health care. The announcement…
This November, Georgians will elect a new governor. The race between Secretary of State Brian Kemp, a Republican, and Stacey Abrams, a Democrat and former House minority leader, has already featured debate between them over the future of health care in the state. Georgia Health News recently asked the candidates about their views on several…
A new analysis finds major variations between the estimates of people with pre-existing conditions in U.S. metropolitan areas – even within a state. Those disparities can be seen in the two Georgia areas studied. The Kaiser Family Foundation analysis, released this week, found that 23 percent of non-elderly adults in the Atlanta/Sandy Springs/Roswell area have…
Dr. Clarence Davis says the answer to the question is “a community health center.” Davis, senior medical director at WellCare of Georgia, takes the occasion of National Health Center Week to note how many disadvantaged Georgians use these centers, and how that care option saves money for the overall U.S. health system. The health of…