Georgia is one of 12 states that has not yet taken up Medicaid expansion, denying hundreds of thousands of working adults access to quality, affordable health care. If the state expanded Medicaid coverage, approximately 452,600 uninsured adults, or 39 percent of the state’s uninsured adult population, could gain health insurance.

Thanks to a new report from our partners at Georgetown University Center for Children and Families, we know that 44 percent of those working without insurance are employed in the hospitality, retail, and administrative, support, and waste management industries. These are cashiers, cooks, maids and housekeeping staff, waiters/waitresses, and freight and stock laborers who earn too much to qualify for current Medicaid coverage and too little to buy private insurance. 

Many of them are essential workers that we have relied upon in some way during the pandemic. Now it’s our turn to help them get reliable, affordable health insurance so they can continue to do their jobs and care for their families. It’s time for Georgia to accept generous federal funding to expand Medicaid to our state’s uninsured workers.

Where Do Georgia’s Uninsured Workers Live?

The map below shows that the uninsured rate for all non-elderly adult workers varies considerably across the state of Georgia, ranging from 6.8 percent in Harris County to 35.1 percent in Atkinson County. Hover over the map to check out the uninsured rate for working adults in your county.

Our state leaders have a new opportunity to support the health of Georgians across the state! Under the recently passed American Rescue Plan, Georgia is eligible to receive a sizable financial payment for finally expanding Medicaid. Medicaid expansion would bring peace of mind to more than 500,000 adults with low incomes who are uninsured or struggling to afford health coverage. This is a deal too good to pass up! 

Through the American Rescue Plan, Georgia is eligible to receive a $1.3 Billion incentive for expanding Medicaid coverage to low-income adults. These savings could cover the costs of the Medicaid expansion program ($640 million over two years). The remainder ($710 million) could put towards other state priorities, like increased funding for schools or expanding broadband to marginalized communities.

Over half a million Georgians do not have meaningful access to health care because Georgia leaders have refused to expand Medicaid. With one move, our state could provide coverage to Georgia’s low-income families, speed up our state’s economic recovery after COVID-19, stabilize rural hospitals, reduce racial health disparities, and address top state priorities. 

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In July 2020, Governor Brian Kemp asked the federal government to approve a plan that would make several changes to private insurance in Georgia. The Governor’s plan is made up of two parts: 1) Reinsurance—which would help to lower premiums for some Georgians; and 2) the Georgia Access model—which would force consumers to enroll in coverage through for-profit insurance companies and web brokers instead of the unbiased and centralized enrollment platform that consumers know and trust (healthcare.gov). Federal health officials are asking Georgians like you to weigh in on the Governor’s plan. The deadline to comment is September 16, 2020. Don’t miss your chance to say how this plan will affect you, your loved ones, and Georgians across the state. After you read this short blog, tell health officials what you think.

What’s in the plan

Reinsurance

Reinsurance is a tool that some other states have used to lower premiums for consumers and attract more insurers to their marketplaces. Georgia’s proposed reinsurance program is designed so that it would lower premiums more in regions that have higher insurance premiums. Southwest Georgia consistently has some of the highest premiums in the U.S. Georgia’s plan predicts that premiums may drop by 10% across the state, with rural areas seeing bigger drops than urban areas.

Georgia Access Model

In the second part of his plan, Gov. Kemp proposes to dismantle the Affordable Care Act’s (ACA) health insurance marketplace (healthcare.gov). Georgians would no longer be able to enroll in health coverage through healthcare.gov. Instead individuals would be forced to enroll through a health insurer, web-broker, or a traditional broker.

Healthcare.gov is the most widely used and only unbiased place that consumers can shop for comprehensive health coverage. Consumers know all available plans will cover their health needs and they are offered financial help if they qualify and notified of their eligibility for Medicaid or other public coverage programs.

Under the Governor’s plan, Georgia consumers would be the only people in the U.S. forced to go without healthcare.gov, and instead rely on private entities for shopping and enrollment. For-profit insurance companies, online brokers, and even some insurance agents will display comprehensive, ACA-compliant plans alongside short-term plans or plans that do not cover all health services (like mental health and substance use services).

Impacts on Georgians with mental health & substance use conditions (and those in recovery)

Reinsurance: Could help make treatment & recovery services more affordable

The expected drop in premiums from the proposed reinsurance program will help to lower premiums for comprehensive health coverage (which cover mental health (MH) & substance use (SU) services), especially for rural consumers and consumers with incomes too high to qualify for the ACA’s financial help (>400% FPL). For consumers who need their coverage to access treatment services or to support their recovery, lower premiums will make it easier to afford their premiums and to cover their deductibles and other costs.

Georgia Access: Leaves consumers without access to treatment or recovery services

Under this plan, Georgia consumers will lose access to the most widely used enrollment pathway and its attached consumer assistance but will gain no additional enrollment options. Georgians are already permitted to enroll through insurers, web brokers, and agents.

Under an existing enrollment program run by the federal government, insurers and web-brokers have developed a track record of steering consumers toward substandard plans that expose them to catastrophic costs if they get sick; failing to alert or assist consumers when they are eligible for Medicaid; and making it difficult to compare plans. Because these companies are allowed to show substandard plans alongside comprehensive plans, the Georgia Access model will encourage Georgia consumers to enroll in substandard plans. Substandard plans are dangerous for Georgians with mental health and substance use needs because most do not cover mental health, and many do not offer substance use or prescription drug benefits. On top of that, substandard plans are allowed to exclude coverage for pre-existing conditions and charge more for people with pre-existing conditions like a history of mental illness or substance use.

The Georgia Access model puts Georgians at risk of getting lost in a confusing new enrollment process and becoming uninsured altogether. Georgians with little or no experience buying or using health insurance (e.g. young people), those with limited English proficiency, Georgians with low health literacy skills, and people with intellectual or cognitive disabilities would be at greatest risk of experiencing adverse consequences from the outlined plan.

Governor Kemp’s plan to change private health insurance in Georgia turns back the clock for Georgians with mental health and substance use conditions. Under this plan, Georgians would be at risk of enrolling in plans that do not cover their health needs and leave them to manage their recoveries with no help. As mental health and substance use issues rise as consequences of COVID-19, this plan moves Georgia in the wrong direction.

For what is likely the last time, health officials are asking for comments from Georgians about the Governor’s plan. The deadline to comment is September 16, 2020. Don’t miss your chance to say how this plan will affect you, your loved ones, and Georgians across the state! Tell health officials what you think today!

Health care emerged as the priority issue for voters this election season. Historic voter turnout and engagement have highlighted the universal desire for affordable, quality health care. Every Georgian wants to be able to see a doctor when they get sick. Every community wants to safeguard their hospital and emergency room. Yet too many of Georgia’s rural hospitals have closed in recent years, and too many Georgians can’t afford health care.

Georgia’s newly elected leaders will have the opportunity in 2019 to embrace a bold solution that would put health insurance cards in the pockets of almost half a million Georgians: Medicaid expansion. While elections come and go, the health care crisis confronting Georgia remains. Seven rural hospitals have closed in Georgia since 2013, and more than half of our remaining rural hospitals are financially struggling. Georgia’s uninsured rate of 14.5 percent is one of the highest in the country, and the uninsured rate in rural Georgia could to climb to 25 percent within the next few years. Substance use disorder and the opioid crisis are devastating communities statewide, demanding a sustained, concerted response.

A strong majority of Georgians support Medicaid expansion. At least seven in ten Georgians think our state should expand Medicaid eligibility, according to polls from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and 11Alive. Every day Georgia refuses expansion, our state loses $8 million in federal funding for health care.

Although Election Day has passed, the civic responsibility to educate leaders and engage neighbors continues. Send a quick email to your lawmakers about the importance of Medicaid expansion and why you care about this issue. Then share your support for Medicaid expansion with media outlets in your community through a letter to the editor. Visit the tools page for information to guide your thoughts and continued engagement on this important issue.

Originally posted by the Georgia Budget and Policy Institute

Julia Asherman is a first-generation farmer who owns and operates Rag & Frass Farm in Twiggs County. Rag & Frass produces beautiful vegetables, fruits and specialty flowers for customers throughout Middle and North Georgia. “I feel like farming is just very fulfilling,” says Julia, “I’ve always been a plant person.”

As an entrepreneur and small business owner, Julia wears all the hats in her company. She works nearly 365 days a year to make her farm profitable in the face of uncertainty from weather, pests and markets. Julia leverages available tools like farm insurance to help mitigate risk for her business, but she hasn’t been able to protect the most important part of her farm: herself.

For years, Julia had no affordable health insurance options. She wasn’t eligible for Georgia’s restrictive Medicaid program and didn’t earn enough money to qualify for financial help to buy health insurance on the marketplace. Her health premium would’ve been $500 a month, almost twice what she pays for her mortgage.

“I have a farm insurance policy that covers if a tornado takes down a greenhouse, and I have liability that covers if someone gets sick from something I produce,” Julia says, “but I don’t have anything protecting me.”

Farming is a fundamental profession, yet agriculture is also one of the most dangerous industries in the country, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Every day, about 100 agricultural workers suffer an injury that forces them to miss work. Farmers are nearly twice as likely to die on the job as police officers and five times as likely as firefighters. From tractors rolling over to snake bites, farmers face frequent threats to their health.

I have a farm insurance policy that covers if a tornado takes down a greenhouse, and I have liability that covers if someone gets sick from something I produce, but I don’t have anything protecting me.

“I’m on a tractor, I’m using heavy equipment, I’m on ladders,” Julia says. “I get on my own roof when I have to patch the roof. There are just a lot of risks.”

Up to 4,200 Georgia agriculture workers could gain affordable health insurance if state lawmakers expand eligibility for the state Medicaid program, according to a 2013 analysis by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. All told, Julia and 470,000 other Georgians could be covered through Medicaid expansion. For every one dollar invested by state leaders, Georgia would receive nine federal dollars back for health care. That’s a return on investment that any small business owner would love to have, according to Julia.

Georgia’s Medicaid program currently provides health coverage to almost 2 million residents, including about 1.3 million children and half a million Georgians who are blind, disabled or elderly. About 8 percent of Georgians who qualify for Medicaid are pregnant women or parents with dependent children and very low income (e.g., a family of three would have to bring in less than $6,612 a year to qualify).

Hear Julia’s story in her own words with this short video.

Julia saw these limits firsthand when she went to her local DFCS office to ask about Medicaid coverage for herself given her low income. “They actually told me that I would need to be blind or pregnant to get [Medicaid].”

Beyond the risks of injuries on the job that could cripple her farm, Julia hasn’t been able to afford basic preventative care like mammograms or physicals in recent years. She sees public investments in other local services and can’t figure out why health care solutions are ignored by state leaders. “I don’t understand why there’s a public library but nobody cares if I can get a mammogram.”

I see my health as vital to my farm’s existence and success. If I’m not healthy or able to work because I’m injured, that’s the thing that makes me worry about losing the farm.

While Julia has struggled for years to stay healthy and grow her business, state lawmakers have repeatedly rejected billions of federal dollars meant to pay for health coverage. Every year state lawmakers block Medicaid expansion, Georgia forfeits $3 billion to the federal government. Those dollars could be used to put an insurance card in the pockets of farmers and entrepreneurs like Julia. The majority of people who would be covered by Medicaid expansion are working.

Julia has persevered through all challenges that have confronted Rag & Frass farm thus far and cultivated a growing small business with customers across the state. Yet the biggest risk outside of her control gives her pause.

“I see my health as vital to my farm’s existence and success,” says Julia. “If I’m not healthy or able to work because I’m injured, that’s the thing that makes me worry about losing the farm.”

You can make a difference for Julia and 470,000 other Georgians by showing your support for Medicaid expansion. Contact your lawmakers today. And visit Rag & Frass to buy incredible produce and flowers!

Teresa began working as a teacher for the Headstart preschool program in 1994 but retired in 2010 because multiple health conditions made it difficult for her to work. Now her family’s only source of income is her husband’s monthly disability check, which is too high to allow him to qualify for Medicaid and too low to allow them to qualify for financial help to purchase private insurance through the Affordable Care Act. (Teresa cannot qualify for Medicaid no matter how low her income is because she does not have a disability or a child under the age of 18.) Both of them fall in Georgia’s coverage gap.

Teresa and her husband are just two of 197 of the Georgians in Clay County that are uninsured because Georgia’s decision makers have not extended health insurance coverage to low-income adults in Georgia (those making less than $16,000 annually for an individual or $20,780 for a family of three.)

Teresa struggles to manage multiple health conditions, the worst of which is a jaw condition that has caused her teeth to rot. Because Teresa has not had health coverage since 2009, she has had to find alternative, insufficient treatments for her jaw condition. She would have to pay $5000—almost four months of income—to receive the necessary medical remedies to alleviate her pain and stop the dental deterioration. If Georgia were to close the coverage gap, Teresa would be able to see her doctor on a regular basis without having to forgo appointments and services that would otherwise be too costly.

Georgia’s Governor and legislature have so far rejected the option to close the state’s coverage gap, leaving people like Teresa and her husband uninsured. Until Georgia’s policymakers extend health insurance to all low-income Georgians, Teresa, her husband, and 240,000 other Georgians will likely continue to skip health care appointments and forgo needed care because they have no pathway to coverage.

Originally posted at HealthyFutureGA.org.

Originally posted at HealthyFutureGA.org

Georgians across the state are being asked to decide how they will cast their votes in November for positions such as Governor, Insurance Commissioner, state senator and state representative. The decisions made by voters about these elected positions will directly impact critical consumer health issues in Georgia like access to health care, affordability of health insurance, the opioid crisis, and the sustainability of the rural health care system.

As candidates crisscross the state or their districts asking for support, voters will consider their stances on a number of important issues including health care. To help voters make their decisions, we put together this list of questions for voters to ask of candidates about five timely and pressing consumer health care issues.

These questions can be used at town halls and candidate forums or posed to candidates via social media or in one-on-one conversations.

Closing the coverage gap

• Over 240,000 Georgians make too little to receive financial help to buy private health insurance but do not qualify for Medicaid, meaning they fall into the Medicaid coverage gap. Many of the families who fall in the gap are hard-working people who work in industries that make up the backbone of our state: trucking, food service, and childcare. Do you support using federal funds to close the Medicaid coverage gap and offer affordable health coverage to these 240,000 Georgians while boosting the Georgia’s economy? Please explain.
• A 2016 Department of Health and Human Services study showed that marketplace premiums were on average 7 percent lower in states that extended Medicaid to low-income residents. Do you support closing the Medicaid coverage gap as one method to reduce health care costs and lower the uninsurance rate for consumers in Georgia? Please explain.

Georgia’s health insurance marketplace

• Health insurance premiums for Georgia consumers will rise by as much as 15 percent in 2019 due to the repeal of the individual mandate by Congress and the elimination of cost-sharing reductions, among other things. If elected, what improvements would you make to our health care system to ensure your constituents have access to high quality, comprehensive and affordable health insurance?
• The federal government has expanded insurance companies’ ability to sell short-term plans that do not cover key services like mental health treatment or prescription drugs. These plans will increase health care costs and roll back consumer protections that many families in our state depend on. How do you think Georgia should regulate these plans?

Opioid/substance use crisis

• In 2016, about three Georgians died each day from drug overdoses and thousands of Georgians live with substance use disorders regularly. To slow this crisis, a broad spectrum of strategies will be needed from prevention and early intervention to expanded access to treatment. If elected, what would you do to address the state’s substance use crisis?

 Communities left behind

• Seven rural hospitals in Georgia have closed since 2010. Rural hospitals are often the largest employer in the area and are the economic engines that help to support local small businesses (like the flower shop or pharmacy). If elected, what will you do ensure that rural communities have adequate access to quality, affordable health care?
• People of color in Georgia have shorter life expectancies, higher rates of chronic disease, and are more likely to be uninsured and live in medically underserved areas. The causes of these outcomes are complex and linked to reduced access to quality education, fewer economic opportunities, discrimination, and other social and economic factors. As (Governor/Insurance Commissioner/other position title), how would you address the health disparities experienced by people of color in Georgia?

Defending health care gains

• Over the past two years Congress has repeatedly attempted to repeal the AffordableCare Act (ACA) and slash federal Medicaid funding that our state relies on, despite the fact that 74 percent of the public view the Medicaid program favorably. If elected, will you support/continue to support the program in the face of threats? Please explain.

Did you ask one of these questions to a candidate? Let us know! We want to know which questions were most helpful and how candidates are responding. Email Michelle Conde at mconde@healthyfuturega.orgwith your feedback.

You can help spread the word about Medicaid expansion on social media and through your networks! Leverage the resources below, tag social media posts with #coverga and link to https://coverga.wpengine.com to help your network take action.

For example:

Now is the time for Georgia lawmakers to support struggling rural hospitals, address the opioid crisis and provide health care access to 470,000 Georgians by expanding Medicaid. #coverga https://coverga.wpengine.com

We can’t afford to wait

State lawmakers can help 470,000 Georgians access affordable health care by expanding Medicaid.

Now is the time for Georgia lawmakers to support struggling rural hospitals, address the opioid crisis and provide health care access to 470,000 Georgians by expanding Medicaid eligibility.

Georgia has refused more than $12 billion federal dollars meant to put health insurance cards in the pockets of Georgia families. We can’t afford to keep waiting to expand health coverage.

Georgia is turning down $8 million a day —$3 billion per year—in money we could be using to help hardworking Georgians access health care.

Georgians can’t afford another year of turning down billions of federal dollars that could be coming back to the state to stabilize struggling hospitals, create thousands jobs and provide health coverage to working Georgians.

As taxpayers, Georgians have already invested in boosting access to health care. If we don’t accept this opportunity in Georgia, the federal government simply keeps our tax dollars.

Basic details

About 240,000 Georgians make too little to get financial help to buy health insurance and don’t currently qualify for Medicaid. These Georgians are stuck in the coverage gap with no affordable insurance options. Why? State leaders keep turning down money meant for health coverage.

Many people in the coverage gap work low-wage jobs where they’re not offered health benefits.

The majority of people who would be covered by expanding Medicaid are working. Many of these workers are in some of Georgia’s most important economic sectors: construction, transportation, education and retail.

Strengthen rural communities

Expanding health coverage would support Georgia’s rural hospitals, economic anchor institutions for rural communities across the state.

Closing the coverage gap would create at least 12,000 new jobs and $1.3 billion in new activity in Georgia’s rural communities each year.

Support behavioral Health

About 25% of uninsured Georgians who would qualify for Medicaid expansion coverage suffer from mental illness or substance abuse.

States that expanded Medicaid connected treatment services to more people with mental illness or substance abuse disorder.

Help women access care

Closing Georgia’s coverage gap would extend health insurance to more than 155,000 uninsured women in Georgia.

Georgia ranks among the bottom five states for women’s health insurance coverage.

Financial security

Just one medical bill can send you into bankruptcy when you’re uninsured. Hardworking families in Georgia need health coverage to get care when they need it without facing huge medical bills or going into bankruptcy.

Accountability

Georgia has refused $12 billion federal dollars meant to put health insurance cards in the pockets of Georgia families. Contact your reps and ask them: why? https://coverga.wpengine.com

Six Georgia rural hospitals have closed since 2013 and many more are struggling. But Speaker David Ralston “isn’t in the mood” to expand health coverage and stabilize rural communities. https://coverga.wpengine.com

Instead of expanding health coverage, Lt. Gov. Cagle spent a year studying the state’s biggest health care problems. His solution? More research. How long do we have to wait? https://coverga.wpengine.com

This blog originally posted at GBPI.org

Thousands of Georgians are stuck without any affordable options for health insurance because state leaders repeatedly reject billions of dollars meant to pay for coverage. About 240,000 workers, students, veterans and other Georgians make too little to get financial help to buy health insurance and do not currently qualify for Medicaid. The majority of these Georgians are working in low-wage jobs where they are not offered health benefits.

Georgia is one of 18 states yet to expand Medicaid eligibility to cover more low-income residents. The map below shows the number of uninsured Georgians who could get coverage if Georgia lawmakers voted to fully expand Medicaid. The federal government covers up to 90 percent of the cost for states to expand income eligibility. This amounts to about $3 billion each year in federal dollars coming back to the state to pay for health care services.

Georgia is home to the fifth-highest rate of uninsured people in the country. Accepting the federal money can help hospitals struggling to stay open and cover the costs of caring for a high number of uninsured patients. Georgia would save an average of $200 million each year from lower costs of providing care to the uninsured.

To find out how a state decision to expand health coverage can benefit your community, browse the map below. Click a county to see detailed data and download specific county resources.

Number of Georgians that Could Gain Health Coverage by Expanding Medicaid

Download Your Fact Sheet

Georgia (statewide), Appling, Atkinson, Bacon, Baker, Baldwin, Banks, Barrow, Bartow, Ben Hill, Berrien, Bibb, Bleckley, Brantley, Brooks, Bryan, Bulloch, Burke, Butts, Calhoun, Camden, Candler, Carroll, Catoosa, Charlton, Chatham, Chattahoochee, Chattooga, Cherokee, Clarke, Clay, Clayton, Clinch, Cobb, Coffee, Colquitt, Columbia, Cook, Coweta, Crawford, Crisp, Dade, Dawson, Decatur, DeKalb, Dodge, Dooly, Dougherty, Douglas, Early, Echols, Effingham, Elbert, Emanuel, Evans, Fannin, Fayette, Floyd, Forsyth, Franklin, Fulton, Gilmer, Glascock, Glynn, Gordon, Grady, Greene, Gwinnett, Habersham, Hall, Hancock, Haralson, Harris, Hart, Heard, Henry, Houston, Irwin, Jackson, Jasper, Jeff Davis, Jefferson, Jenkins, Johnson, Jones, Lamar, Lanier, Laurens, Lee, Liberty, Lincoln, Long, Lowndes, Lumpkin, Macon, Madison, Marion, McDuffie, McIntosh, Meriwether, Miller, Mitchell, Monroe, Montgomery, Morgan, Murray, Muscogee, Newton, Oconee, Oglethorpe, Paulding, Peach, Pickens, Pierce, Pike, Polk, Pulaski, Putnam, Quitman, Rabun, Randolph, Richmond, Rockdale, Schley, Screven, Seminole, Spalding, Stephens, Stewart, Sumter, Talbot, Taliaferro, Tattnall, Taylor, Telfair, Terrell, Thomas, Tift, Toombs, Towns, Treutlen, Troup, Turner, Twiggs, Union, Upson, Walker, Walton, Ware, Warren, Washington, Wayne, Webster, Wheeler, White, Whitfield, Wilcox, Wilkes, Wilkinson, Worth

Last week, Virginia became the latest state to expand health care coverage to low-income adults when the Virginia legislature voted to close the its coverage gap and Governor Northam signed the new budget. More than 400,000 Virginians are expected to gain coverage as a result, and the state anticipates declines in uncompensated care costs for hospitals, an increase in people receiving needed health services, and greater financial security for those set to gain coverage. The vote comes after years of advocacy and engagement from constituents and advocates who worked to convey to legislators the importance of health coverage and the impact the change would have on the lives of hundreds of thousands of Virginians.

Unlike Virginians, 240,000 hard-working Georgians cannot yet look forward to putting a health insurance card in their pockets. These friends and neighbors make too little to get financial help to buy health insurance and don’t qualify for Medicaid in Georgia, leaving them stuck in the state’s coverage gap.

Georgia remains one of 17 states that is still refusing billions in federal health care dollars to provide health coverage to low-income adults in the state. As in Virginia, Georgia’s Governor and state legislature can choose to close the coverage gap at any time, and here are five reasons they should do so as soon as possible:

Thousands of Georgians would gain health coverage–240,000 Georgians would gain the peace of mind, access to care, and financial protection that insured Georgians have. These Georgians make less than $12,140 a year  or $20,780 for a family of three. Most are working in sectors like retail, child care, construction, and food service, low-paying jobs that do not come with benefits.

Georgia’s rural hospitals are economic anchor institutions–rural communities need their hospitals to provide accessible healthcare, sustain well-paid jobs, and facilitate economic stability. Closing the coverage gap would create at least 12,000 new jobs and $1.3 billion in new activity in Georgia’s rural communities each year.

The resulting job growth is greater than what the state would gain by attracting Amazon’s HQ2–extending health coverage to more Georgians would create 56,000 new jobs across the state, more than the 50,000 jobs that Amazon is promising at its second headquarters. Even better, the new jobs would be scattered across the state rather than concentrated in and around Atlanta.

Georgia’s tax dollars are currently sitting unused in Washington, D.C.–By refusing to extend health insurance to low-income Georgians, the state is missing out on $8 million per day ($3 billion dollars per year). Instead of giving up hard-earned tax dollars, Georgia’s policy makers could bring that money back to the state to help low-income parents, veterans, and workers put health insurance cards in their wallets.

It is the biggest step Georgia can take to slow the substance use crisis —One quarter (25%) of Georgians who fall in the coverage gap are estimated to have a mental illness or substance use disorder. If they were covered by health insurance, treatment and recovery services would be within reach, allowing them to resume full, healthy lives. As a result, 36,000 fewer Georgians each year would experience symptoms of depression and the state could make significant progress in addressing its ongoing substance use crisis.

After five years of delay, Virginia’s leaders made the right decision and as a result, 400,000 Virginians will see healthier futures. Now is the time for Georgia’s decision makers to follow suite by putting 240,000 insurance cards in wallets all across the state.

Originally posted at HealthyFutureGA.org