Requests: Written comments, attend a public hearing (either virtually or in-person), and share with friends, family, your community.
Public hearing will be held on July 22nd at 10 a.m. Comments are due by July 23rd.
Since Governor Kemp put forward two waiver plans to change Medicaid and private insurance in Georgia, hundreds of you have taken action to protect comprehensive, affordable health care for Georgians and expand Medicaid. Thank you for your advocacy! It has made a huge difference!
Because you spoke up, Governor Kemp has revised his plan to change private insurance in Georgia. There were positive changes: the updated plan eliminates several provisions that would have eroded protections for people with pre-existing conditions and reduced the financial help available for moderate-income Georgians to buy health coverage. Despite these positive changes, the Governor’s plan would still leave Georgians at the mercy of for-profit insurance companies by dismantling healthcare.gov.
The Governor’s plan is made up of two parts:
- Reinsurance—which would help to lower premiums starting in 2022; and
- Georgia Access model—which would force consumers to enroll in coverage through profit-driven insurance companies and web brokers instead of the unbiased enrollment platform that consumers know & trust (healthcare.gov).
While reinsurance would help middle- and high-income Georgia consumers by lowering premiums, the rest of the Governor’s plan is flawed and risky. The plan does not add any new ways for people to shop for health coverage. Instead, it only serves to shut off the most trusted and widely used path for Georgians purchasing their own coverage.
Georgia would become the only state in the U.S. with a confusing, decentralized enrollment system that disempowers consumers, leaving them vulnerable to the sales tactics of insurance companies. For many, it will be harder to find a plan that they feel good about. Others will get lost in the process altogether and unintentionally become uninsured. The new “marketplace” website may not be under the same scrutiny nor be required to follow the same rules set out by the affordable healthcare act. This is not good for Georgia consumers. Even if the cost of your premium is less, you may find yourself caught up in coverage that isn’t really coverage. That’s not a bargain.
State leaders are asking for comments from Georgians about the Governor’s plan. This is your chance to say how this plan will affect you, your loved ones, and Georgians across the state. The deadline to comment is next Thursday, July 23rd. Comment today!
Next we ask you to attend public hearings on July 22nd to make your opinions known.
Information for the hearing is listed on this webpage. Please make a plan to attend on Wednesday, July 22, 2020 10:00 am. We will have more information for this meeting later this week. We encourage you to subscribe to our call to actions (in the sidebar on your desktop, at the bottom of the page on your phone).