On March 8, Georgia Watch, Georgia Budget and Policy Institute, Prosperity Now, and Center for Responsible Lending hosted the first-ever Georgia Financial Protection and Economic Opportunity Summit. Nearly 50 partners from across the state and nation met...
More infoBlue Cross Blue Shield will stop reimbursing some ER visits on July 1st
Starting July 1, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Georgia is implementing a new policy that may result in unpaid bills for patients on the individual market who go to hospital emergency rooms for non-emergencies. Anthem, the parent company of Blue Cross in...
More infoGeorgia Watch Comments on New CMS Informed Consent Rules
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has proposed new regulations related to the informed consent documents patients receive prior to elective procedures in hospitals. These documents are critical to effectively engaging patients in...
More info“Hundreds of thousands could lose insurance in Georgia under GOP plan”
By Misty Williams – The Atlanta Journal-Consitution Published online: March 15, 2017, In print: March 16, 2017 An estimated 750,000 Georgians — many of them poor and older — could lose their health insurance under the GOP’s Obamacare...
More info“Georgia lawmakers to tackle ‘surprise’ medical billing to patients”
Written by: Andy Miller, Georgia Health News Published: January 26, 2017 When his 5-year-old son suffered a burn injury, Michael Caraway took him to a local hospital emergency room. The hospital was in Caraway’s insurance network. His son got successful...
More info“Less than one-quarter of Georgia hospitals score “A” in safety ratings”
Georgia Health News, Andy Miller – November 1, 2016 Just 22 percent of Georgia hospitals received an “A” grade on patient safety in the latest ratings from the Leapfrog Group. That put Georgia in a tie for 36th place among states ranked on...
More infoA Victory for Georgia Consumers in Western Sky
Yesterday, the Supreme Court of Georgia ruled in favor of Georgia consumers. In Western Sky Financial, LLC v. State of Georgia, three online payday lending companies, incorporated in different states, provided payday loans to Georgia residents. Georgia...
More info“Major changes could be coming for prescription drugs”
October 12, 2016 By Kim Passoth, ATLANTA (CBS46) – “You could soon be paying more and getting less as major changes could be on the way for prescription drug coverage. Many health insurance companies are changing their policies, meaning drugs...
More infoCheck Your Doctor
Georgia Watch’s Health Access Director, joined Dale Cardwell on WGST AM 640 (Trustdale.com) to discuss how to use physician quality information to research physicians to help consumers choose the best doctor for them. Listen to the interview...
More infoWhy It’s So Hard to Regulate Payday Lenders
By Astra Taylor Georgia’s founder, James Oglethorpe, an eighteenth-century social reformer, envisioned the colony as an economic utopia—a haven for those locked in Britain’s debtors’ prisons. Oglethorpe petitioned King George II to allow the...
More info“Louisiana rolls out Medicaid expansion; can it be a model for Georgia?”
By Tom Crawford On June 1, Louisiana became the first southern state bordering the Gulf of Mexico to launch a Medicaid expansion program funded through the Affordable Care Act. That happened because of the upset victory last fall of Democrat John Bel...
More infoEngaging with Local Hospitals on Community Health
Is your hospital on this List? If so, it is a non-profit hospital, and most Georgia hospitals fall into this category. Non-profit hospitals do not have to pay most federal, state and local taxes. In return for their tax-exempt status, the Internal...
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