This Month in Health Advocacy
Women are the backbone of families, workplaces, and communities across Georgia. They are caregivers, essential workers, students, and small business owners who keep their households and neighborhoods running.
But too many women in Georgia are still locked out of the health care they need.
This Women’s History Month, Cover Georgia is highlighting the thousands of women stuck in Georgia’s coverage gap, working hard, caring for loved ones, and still unable to access affordable health insurance.
1 in 5
Women ages 18 to 44 in Georgia is uninsured, often because they earn too much for Medicaid but too little to afford coverage elsewhere.
We are revisiting our 2025 Women’s History Month blog, which shares the stories of several Georgia women who fell through the cracks: a mother struggling to afford her husband’s heart surgery after losing Medicaid; a college student repeatedly denied coverage through Georgia’s Pathways program; and a grandmother battling cancer while raising her granddaughter. Their stories are a powerful reminder that the coverage gap is not just a policy issue. It is a daily reality affecting families across our state.
March Health Awareness
March also includes several important health awareness observances that remind us why access to care matters for everyone: Developmental Disabilities Awareness Month, World Hearing Day (March 3), and World Kidney Day (March 12).
Across all of these issues, one truth remains: when people have health coverage, they are far more likely to get the screenings and preventive care to identify conditions early and manage them effectively, and treatments and care when they get sick or other health needs emerge.
3 Ways to Take Action This Month
The fight to close Georgia’s coverage gap takes all of us. Here are three ways you can make a difference right now.
Read and share the Women’s History Month blog.
Thousands of women in Georgia are working, caring for their families, and still unable to access health insurance because of the coverage gap. Help raise awareness by reading and sharing the stories of women living this reality in Georgia.
Read the blog: Left Behind: The Women in Georgia’s Coverage GapMeet with your legislators.
Check out the opportunities below to meet with or contact your legislators today.
Find and contact your legislatorsShare your story.
Personal stories are one of the most powerful tools we have to change policy. If you or someone you care about has struggled to get health care because of the coverage gap, your experience can help lawmakers understand what is at stake.
Share your story at coverga.orgMeet Your Legislator This Spring
Cover Georgia is working with partner organizations and Georgians just like you to schedule and support constituent meetings with legislators from priority districts. We are currently inviting Georgians who live in or near the following communities to participate:
Cogdell | Cordele | Cornelia | Dacula | Dallas | Demorest | Dublin | Effingham | Gainesville | Jackson | Moultrie | Mulberry | Peachtree Corners | Perry | South Savannah | Swainsboro | Thomasville | Valdosta | Vidalia
If you live in these areas and want to meet with your state legislator at the Capitol (or closer to home), or if your organization wants to help with scheduling or attending, please reach out to Jessica Franks, Cover Georgia’s program manager, at jfranks@healthyfuturega.org.
Can’t make it to the Capitol in person? Calls are more effective than emails, so if you have just a few minutes:
Don’t know what to say when you meet, call, or write your legislator? Click here to use our 2026 advocacy toolkit. We make it easy to share why closing Georgia’s coverage gap matters.
The ACA Turns 16 and Georgians Are Still Waiting
On March 23, the Affordable Care Act celebrates its 16th birthday. The ACA transformed health coverage in America by protecting people with pre-existing conditions, making insurance accessible to millions who had none, and enabling states to expand Medicaid so low-income adults have health coverage.
While 40 states have expanded Medicaid, Georgia leaders have not yet taken advantage of this good deal. Sixteen years later, 200,000 Georgians are still caught in the gap that the ACA was designed to close. Every year Georgia waits is another year real people go without care they need and deserve.
This anniversary, we are collecting stories from Georgians living in the coverage gap. Your experience matters. Sharing takes just a few minutes, and your story will be kept confidential unless you choose otherwise.
Support the Campaign
The work of closing Georgia’s coverage gap takes sustained effort: building coalitions, training advocates, coordinating legislative meetings, and collecting and elevating the stories of Georgians who need coverage. If you believe in this work, please consider making a contribution to help us keep it going.
Every dollar helps us advocate for the Georgians living in the coverage gap who deserve the health care they have been waiting on for too long.