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Economy

Commit to a governor that will finally help rural Georgia

Politicians have been failing rural Georgia for decades. Since Nathan Deal was elected governor, we’ve seen six rural hospitals close, making it the third highest state in the nation for hospital closures. Long after most of the United States has bounced back from the Great Recession, rural Georgians are still having a difficult time finding quality jobs and rural schools are still suffering. In Georgia, rural unemployment rates are double the rest of the state. Rural

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Equality, Rights & Justice Issues

How long do you want to live? How long will you live?

There’s a 25 year life expectancy difference across neighborhoods in Georgia. In Georgia, the neighborhood with the shortest life expectancy is just five miles south of Macon, Ga. With a poverty rate over fifty percent, the life expectancy is just over 63 years. However, Vinings, a suburb northwest of Atlanta, has a poverty rate under 5 percent, and a life expectancy of over 87 years. Where you live impacts the quality of education your children

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Elections

Kemp vs. Abrams: Who will fight for better access to health care?

When it comes to expanding access to health care, gubernatorial candidates Stacey Abrams and Brian Kemp could not be further apart. Although moves on the federal level last year dampened the outlook for both the Affordable Care Act and Medicaid expansion, closing the coverage gap in Georgia would mean an additional 473,000 Georgians would have access to health insurance by 2019. That’s 473,000 fewer people straining a health care system plagued by financial insecurity and

Immigration and Refugees

Kemp slams immigration on bus tour

As part of his gubernatorial campaign’s bus tour, Sec. of State Brian Kemp gave a talk inside of what was once a jail cell advocating a crackdown on immigration. As has become typical of the Republican rhetoric on immigration, his speech was full of hateful, confusing half-truths. The crux of his talk was about how undocumented immigrants are driving up the cost of heathcare. He said it was “insane” that undocumented immigrants get healthcare coverage

Medicaid Expansion

New health care bill is a Band-Aid on a gaping wound

A rural health care bill, HB 769, passed a House committee on Tuesday. The bill has received a lot of attention, but it’s missing a crucial component — Medicaid expansion. At this point, any health care bill that doesn’t include ending Georgia’s Medicaid blockade is putting a Band-Aid on a deadly, gaping wound. Rep. Betty Price and other conservative lawmakers have created a symbolic bill that sounds good but does nothing to help rural communities.

Healthcare

Local health care suffers under lack of state leadership

Real access to healthcare is an achievable goal, but when politicians weathering the legislative session in Atlanta play politics with people’s health, communities are left scrambling to do their best in a broken system. The state needs to do more to make it possible for small, rural hospitals to stay open, and for people living in the state’s rural and small town communities to access the healthcare they need. Lee and Dougherty Counties in southwest