State Information: Georgia
This state-specific page on Georgia provides new materials published by Families USA, key health contacts, state government links, news and views from the state, and other resources that might be helpful to Georgia advocates. Click on the links below to view the information you are interested in.
Key Health Contacts
Atlanta Regional Health Forum
40 Courtland Street, NE
Atlanta, GA 30303
Phone: 404-463-3123
Fax: 404-463-3105
Email: arhf@att.net
Website: http://www.arhf.net/DHHSREGIONIVSTRATEGYS.asp
Budget and Policy Institute
100 Edgewood Avenue, Suite 1040
Atlanta, GA 30303
Phone: 404-420-1324
Phone: 404-420-1329
www.gbpi.org
Georgia Council on Aging
2 Peachtree Street NW, Suite 32-270
Atlanta, GA 30303
Phone: 404-657-5343
Fax: 404-657-1722
Email: mmmalok@dhr.state.ga.us
Website: www.gcoa.org
The Georgia Council on Aging and its state-wide coalition, CO-AGE, are advocates for the state's elderly. They work extensively on legislation affecting older adults in Georgia.
Georgians for a Healthy Future
100 Edgewood Avenue, NE, Suite 815
Atlanta, GA 30303
Phone: 404-567-5160
Fax: 404-935-9885
Email: info@healthyfuturega.org
Website: www.healthyfuturega.org
Georgia Legal Services Program, Inc.
1137 Moreland Place, SE
Atlanta, GA 30316
Phone: 404-274-1746
Fax: 404-206-5346
Website: www.glsp.org
Georgia Rural Urban Summit
PO Box 225
Decatur, GA 30031
Phone: 404-522-4787
Fax: 404-286-4705
Email: info@georgiasummit.org
Website: http://www.georgiasummit.org/
Georgia State Long-Term Care Ombudsman
2 Peachtree Street NW, Suite 9-234
Atlanta, GA 30303-3142
Phone: 1-888-454-5826
Fax: 404-463-8384
Website: http://www.georgiaombudsman.org/
The Office of the State Long-Term Care Ombudsman seeks to improve the quality of life for residents of long-term care facilities (nursing homes, intermediate care facilities for the mentally retarded, personal care homes, and community living arrangements). The office certifies and trains community ombudsmen, who work to resolve concerns of long-term care facility residents statewide, emphasizing residents' wishes in assisting to resolve problems.
Georgia Watch
55 Marietta St. NW, Suite 903
Atlanta, GA 30303
Phone: 404-525-1085
Fax: 404-526-8553
Email: brencher@georgiawatch.org
Website: www.georgiawatch.org
Governor's Council
2 Peachtree Street NW, Suite 26-246
Atlanta, GA 30303
Phone: 404-657-2126
Fax: 404-657-2132
Website: www.ga-ddcouncil.org
The council promotes systemic change, advocacy, and capacity-building activities that support positive public policies for people with developmental disabilities and their families. The council encourages collaboration among people with developmental disabilities, families, advocates, providers, and policy makers through public policy research and analysis, advocacy, and project funding and implementation.
Mental Health Consumer Network
246 Sycamore Street, Suite 100
Decatur, GA 30030
Phone: 404-687-9487
Toll Free: 800-297-6146
Fax: 404-687-0772
Email: office@gmhcn.org
Website: Mental Health Consumer Network
Voices for Georgia's Children
100 Edgewood Ave. NE, Suite 1580
Atlanta, GA 30303
Women's Policy Group
PO Box 55553
Atlanta, GA 30308
Phone: 404-245-8176
Fax: 404-373-7428
Email: info@womenspolicygroup.org
Website: http://www.womenspolicygroup.org/
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State Government Links
State of Georgia Website
State Insurance Commissioner of Georgia Website
Visit the Department of Medical Assistance page on the state's website.
Peachcare for Kids is the website of Georgia's Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP).
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Other Resources
Uninsured Children 2009-2011: Charting the Nation’s Progress finds that, nationally, children’s coverage continued to improve, but that half of all kids who are still uninsured live in the following six states: AR, CA, FL, GA, NY, and TX. It also includes data for the states with the highest and lowest rates of uninsured children. (October 2012) [Georgetown University Center for Children and Families]
Selling Health Insurance across State Lines: An Assessment of State Laws and Implications for Improving Choice and Affordability of Coverage analyzes the implementation of laws in six states (GA, KY, ME, RI, WA, and WY) that allow the sale of insurance across state lines. Although these laws were designed to enhance consumer choice, to increase competition, and to make insurance more affordable, the complexities of how insurance is sold and regulated have deterred insurance companies from entering new markets, thereby undermining the laws’ goals. (October 2012) [Center on Health Insurance Reforms]
Worry No More: Americans with Pre-Existing Conditions Are Protected by the Health Care Law provides estimates of how many people will be protected from discrimination based on their health status thanks to the health care law. For the first time, the state reports include county-level data, and they include state-level data that are broken down by age, income, and racial or ethnic group. (July-August 2012) [Families USA]
Being a Woman Just Got a Little Easier: How the Affordable Care Act Benefits Women outlines what women stand to gain under the Affordable Care Act. (July 2012) [Families USA]
Dying for Coverage: The Deadly Consequences of Being Uninsured estimates the number of Americans who are dying prematurely due to lack of health coverage. It includes state-level data that are broken down by week, month, and year that were generated using the methodology originally developed by the Institute of Medicine. (June 2012) [Families USA]
Decoding Your Health Insurance: The New Summary of Benefits and Coverage provides national and state-level data on the nearly 173.5 million people with private insurance who will be helped by these plain-language summaries that are required by the health care law. (May 2012) [Families USA]
Good Business Sense: The Small Business Health Care Tax Credit in the Affordable Care Act provides national and state-level estimates of the number of small businesses that will be eligible for this tax credit and of how much the credits will be worth. It also includes data on how many workers could benefit as a result, broken down according to racial and ethnic group. (May 2012) [Families USA and Small Business Majority]
Medicaid: Essential to America's Hospitals and Communities provides state-level data highlighting how important hospitals are to state residents at every stage of life, whether or not they are covered by Medicaid. It also explains that hospitals are vital economic engines and that federal Medicaid cuts could harm many communities. (March 2012) [Families USA]
Republican Presidential Primaries: Health Care and the 2012 Georgia Primary looks at Republicans' plans for health care and how they would harm the health and health care of all Georgians, whether old, young, or working-age. (February 2012) [Families USA]
Georgia’s Tax Breaks to Increase Use of Health Savings Accounts Did Not Expand Health Coverage: Plan Promoted by Gingrich Group Has Failed to Deliver explains how this approach, which was designed to reduce the number of uninsured Georgians by 500,000, has actually increased the number of uninsured people by 319,000. (February 2012) [Center on Budget and Policy Priorities]
The Bottom Line: How the Affordable Care Act Helps America's Families shows the net financial effects of the Affordable Care Act on family budgets. We found that lower- and middle-income families, both uninsured and insured, will be financial winners. | State Reports (October 2011) [Families USA]
Medicaid's Impact in the States: Helping People with Serious Health Care Needs examines how vital Medicaid is for residents with cancer, diabetes, chronic lung disease, or heart disease or stroke. For these people, Medicaid can be the difference between life and death, and program cuts would put them at risk. Released in partnership with three other groups. (September 2011) [Families USA]
Jobs at Risk: Federal Medicaid Cuts Would Harm State Economies provides state-level data that show the devastating impact the House Republican budget proposal would have. The proposal's substantial Medicaid cuts would harm program enrollees and their families and lead to a loss of business activity and jobs in all states. | Calculator (June 2011) [Families USA]
Cutting Medicaid in the States: Harming Seniors and People with Disabilities Who Need Long-Term Care provides state-specific numbers on how many people would be affected by cuts to Medicaid long-term care spending, as well as how Medicaid helps families, state workers, and businesses. (May 2011) [Families USA]
House Republicans Propose to Slash Funding for Medicaid, Medicare, and Other Health Coverage Programs takes a closer look at how the recent budget proposal would harm seniors, children, and state economies, including state-specific numbers. (April 2011) [Families USA]
States Are Benefitting from Provisions of the Affordable Care Act lists the number of people in each state who are already benefiting from each of five provisions. The provisions include measures that are helping small businesses provide coverage to their workers, helping seniors get free preventive care, and protecting children with pre-existing conditions. | Table (March 2011) [Families USA]
Protecting Seniors and People with Disabilities: Why It Is Important to Preserve the Maintenance of Effort Requirement in the Affordable Care Act discusses how stripping the maintenance of effort requirement from the ACA will have negative consequences for the many people who depend on Medicaid by allowing states to change eligibility requirements. (February 2011) [Families USA]
Worry Less Spend Less: Out-of-Pocket Spending Caps Protect America's Families examines how the Affordable Care Act will protect insured people from high medical costs through new caps on out-of-pocket spending. It provides state-level estimates of how many residents will have spending that exceeds these caps and by how much, and it looks at how many of those residents work for small businesses. (February 2011) [Families USA]
How Health Reform Helps Communities of Color is a series of state-based fact sheets that discuss how provisions in the Affordable Care Act--both those for the general public and those specifically designed to eliminate health disparities--help communities of color in each state. (September-October 2010) [Families USA]
Lower Taxes, Lower Premiums: The New Health Insurance Tax Credit examines how this tax credit will help both insured and uninsured Americans. It provides data on the number of people eligible, the total dollars available, and on how it will help working families in particular. (September 2010) [Families USA]
A Helping Hand for Small Businesses: Health Insurance Tax Credits analyzes the health reform provision that provides tax credits to small employers to help them buy health coverage for their workers. This report, which was commissioned along with Small Business Majority, provides national and state-level data on the number of small businesses eligible for the credit in 2010, as well as the number eligible for the maximum tax credit. (July 2010) [Families USA]
Health Reform: New Opportunities for States to Invest in Home- and Community-Based Services is a series of state-specific fact sheets that explore the new options for states to expand home- and community-based services through the health reform law and the reasons why expanding this type of services is a good idea. (Summer 2010) [Families USA]
Health Reform: Help for Americans with Pre-Existing Conditions discusses how, under health reform, no one will be denied coverage, charged a higher premium, or sold a policy that excludes coverage of essential benefits because of pre-existing conditions. The report presents the number of Americans with diagnosed pre-existing conditions who, absent reform, would be at risk of being denied coverage in the individual insurance market. It breaks down this number by age, income, and race. (May 2010) [Families USA]
How Health Reform Helps the People of Georgia looks at the many benefits that health reform will bring to the state, including cracking down on insurance company abuses, ending runaway premiums, and providing financial security. (May 2010) [Families USA]
Health Coverage in Georgia: How Will Health Reform Help? discusses the major gaps in Georgia's health coverage system and how health reform will address these gaps and help Georgians, including the insured, the uninsured, people in Medicare, and small businesses. (March 2010) [Families USA]
Lives on the Line: The Deadly Consequences of Delaying Health Reform examines what would happen if Congress fails to pass health reform. Specifically, it provides national and state-level estimates of the number of deaths that would occur due to lack of health coverage if reform doesn't pass. It also quantifies how many Americans died due to lack of health coverage since the last effort to pass reform in 1994. (March 2010) [Families USA]
Guide to Finding Health Coverage: Georgia Millions of Americans have no health insurance, and finding health insurance can be difficult. If you are looking for coverage, this guide can help point the way. Whether you have recently lost your job, are an early retiree, or have a serious medical condition, this guide includes numerous resources that may help you find the coverage you need. (Updated 2009) [Families USA]
The Uninsured: A Closer Look–Georgians without Health Insurance examines how many state residents were uninsured during 2007-2008. The report also takes a closer look at the number of uninsured, who they are, and how long they were uninsured. It mirrors the data in our national report, Americans at Risk: One in Three Uninsured. (April 2009) [Families USA]
Premiums versus Paychecks: A Growing Burden for Georgia's Workers. The impact of changes in employer-based health insurance premiums and earnings in Georgia. (October 2008) [Families USA]
Dying for Coverage in Georgia For the more than 47 million Americans who are uninsured, lack of health insurance can have dire consequences: medical debt, missed care, and even premature death. This first-ever state-specific report examines the number of deaths due to lack of health insurance. (April 2008) [Families USA]
SCHIP Reauthorization: What's at Stake for Georgia? New state-specific reports show how much money Georgia could gain from SCHIP Reauthorization and what that money would mean to the Georgia's economy. (May 2007) [Families USA]
When an Apple A Day Isn't Enough: Students in Georgia Speak Out about Health Care contains the winning essays from the "When an Apple a Day Isn't Enough" national essay contest as well as basic information about why health insurance matters for children. [Campaign for Children's Health Care]
Guide to Finding Health Insurance Coverage: Millions of Americans have no health insurance, and finding health insurance can be difficult. If you are looking for coverage, this guide can help point the way. Whether you have recently lost your job, are an early retiree, or have a serious medical condition, this guide includes numerous resources that may help you find the coverage you need. (Updated March 2007) [Families USA]
No Shelter from the Storm: Georgia's Uninsured Children. This fact sheet takes a closer look at uninsured children in Georgia—who they are and what kinds of services they miss out on as a result of being uninsured. Written by Families USA for the Campaign for Children's Health Care. (September 2006) [Families USA]
NACHRI, in collaboration with the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), has released 2005 updates of their state-specific Medicaid fact sheets. These fact sheets detail the importance of the Medicaid program to the health care of children in every state, as well as the critical role children's hospitals and pediatricians play in serving all children. Click here for a map that will take you to information specific to your state. (July 2005) [National Association of Children's Hospitals and Related Institutions (NACHRI)]
Paying a Premium: The Added Cost of Care for the Uninsured in Georgia: A fact sheet with state-level data showing the dollar impact on private health insurance premiums of care provided to the uninsured. (June 2005) [Families USA]
Medicaid Cuts Are Bad Medicine: This fact sheet describes how Medicaid helps your state's economy, supports the state's health care infrastructure, provides essential health care to the most vulnerable residents, and reduces the number of uninsured. (January 2005) [Families USA]
The Uninsured: A Closer Look: A fact sheet with state-level data from One in Three: Non-Elderly Americans without Health Insurance, 2002-2003. (June 2004) [Families USA]
Good Medicine for State Economies, 2004 Update: Medicaid provides essential health care services for an estimated 51 million people of all ages and economic classes. Medicaid also plays a unique role in stimulating state economies. This report provides national and state-level data on the effects of Medicaid spending on state business activity, employment, and employee earnings. These updated numbers can be used to predict the economic impact of potential state Medicaid spending increases or cuts in fiscal year 2005.| Medicaid Calculator with updated figures (May 2004) [Families USA]
Who's Uninsured in Georgia and Why? is a four-page fact sheet providing information on the uninsured population in the state -- their numbers and characteristics and some of the reasons they are uninsured. (November 2003) [Families USA]
Families USA has prepared state fact sheets that spell out the different amounts of help the House and Senate Medicare prescription drug bills would provide to low-income beneficiaries. Click here for this state's fact sheet. (July 2003) [Families USA]
Assessing State Strategies for Health Coverage Expansion: Case Studies of Oregon, Rhode Island, New Jersey, and Georgia profiles several examples of innovative state programs aimed at increasing the number of residents with health coverage. It analyzes elements common to the states' successes, including strong leadership and commitment, seamless coverage for disparate groups, and involving providers and consumer advocates in program design. (November 2002) [The Commonwealth Fund]
Go Directly to Work, Do Not Collect Health Insurance: Georgia is one of the states studied in this report, which provides documentation of the health coverage effects of welfare reform on low-income parents. (June 2000) [Families USA]
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