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… [Read More]
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… [Read More]
Poverty is confusing to the Ga. Chamber of Commerce
Last week, the Georgia Chamber of Commerce released their policy alternatives to expanding Medicaid, but unfortunately, their proposed solutions all show a lack of understanding of what living in poverty means. The Chamber’s policy proposals, not surprisingly, include an emphasis on “personal responsibility,” in calling for the folks who are in the Medicaid coverage gap —… [Read More]
New federal funding means it’s time to expand Medicaid in Georgia
Georgia Republicans decided not to expand Medicaid under the pretense that Georgia couldn’t afford it. However, with the increase in federal funding for states adopting the next round of expanded Medicaid, Georgia can’t afford not to adopt it. The Macon Telegraph editorialized, “When Gov. Nathan Deal first declared the state wouldn’t participate in the ACA… [Read More]
Louisiana expands Medicaid, will GA keep saying no?
Georgia’s efforts to block Medicaid expansion just got a little bit harder, following the successful expansion of Medicaid in Louisiana this summer. Conservative leadership in this state has cited cost and concerns that the federal government will back out of its commitment to fund 90 percent of the cost of Medicaid expansion. This would, the argument goes, leave… [Read More]
Healthcare for all, a dream for Georgia
Half a million Georgians would gain health insurance coverage if this state expanded Medicaid in 2017. That makes up about 10 percent of the nation’s uninsured, ranking just behind Texas and Florida. Expanding Medicaid, however hard a battle it’s been, is just the beginning in the fight to make sure ALL people have meaningful access… [Read More]
Unterman searching for right side of history on Medicaid
Have Georgia’s conservative lawmakers finally seen the light on Medicaid expansion? Maybe. Sen. Renee Unterman (R-Buford) (the lawmaker who made national headlines for blocking a bill to test rape kits) has been speaking publicly about moving in the direction of Medicaid expansion. This is an issue that we’ve already dissected in-depth on this blog in… [Read More]
Medicaid expansion a must for Georgia’s hospitals and families
Rural hospital closures continue to decimate local communities in Georgia. Gov. Nathan Deal, House Speaker David Ralston and House Minority Leader Stacey Abrams, among other policymakers, have all publicly addressed the issue. In other words: Everyone knows it’s a problem. But partisan politics once again gets in the way of implementing a common-sense solution. Gov. Deal… [Read More]